Li Yuanjiao and Yuan Chengdun waited for a while. A demonic wind swept in from the south, kicking up flying sand and rolling stones through the valley. Black demonic mist surged across the horizon, at the head of which stood a burly man wielding a white bone mallet.
Behind him stood several grotesque demonic creatures: a wolf and a deer flanked the pig demon in the center as they touched down on the ground. Aided by the Mystic Pattern Bottle, Li Yuanjiao concealed himself within the dark mist and formed an incantation gesture.
"Boom!"
The demons descended in high spirits, but the Foundation Establishment grand array suddenly activated. Emerald light curtains rose in all directions, cutting off the inside from the outside. While the Foundation Establishment demon managed to keep its composure, several little Qi Refinement demons were scared out of their wits—some tumbled over, others mounted the wind, all scattering in wild panic.
Yet this grand array was of the Foundation Establishment level, and a personal possession of Kong Tingyun, a direct-line cultivator of Xuanyue. The lesser demons slammed into it, left dizzy and disoriented. Yuan Chengdun unslung two short cudgels from his back, flew out from the dark mist without a word, and brought one down right on their heads.
As he moved, a blue-gold radiance coursed around him, clearly the activation of his immortal foundation, Fuqingshan. He stomped onto the ground and swung to the left and right; one strike shattered the wolf demon's sinews and bones into several pieces, while the other smashed the deer demon's head into fragments, splattering blood everywhere.
'Those were all Qi Refinement sacrifices!'
Seeing him kill two right off the bat, Li Yuanjiao feared he would continue the slaughter. He hurriedly rode the dark mist closer and reached out to grasp—the Qingchi Sword leapt from its scabbard, its cyan-white sword light aggressively fierce.
Yuan Chengdun also rode the wind over, golden light flowing across his two short cudgels and fine golden tracery surfacing on his face. With a grim countenance, he struck out one blow after the other.
The Foundation Establishment pig demon was shrouded in billowing black mist. Shouting words of mingled shock and fury, he raised the bone mallet in his hand to parry. It clashed with Li Yuanjiao's sword arc, unleashing an ear-piercing screech of friction.
Yuan Chengdun paid him no heed, his two short cudgels carrying astonishing power and superb technique. Faced with two opponents at once, the pig demon was thoroughly beleaguered. Snapping its wide maw open, it spewed a plume of demonic mist that billowed outward to ward off Yuan Chengdun's cudgels.
"What crude demonic art dares show itself here to make a fool of itself!"
Yuan Chengdun laughed aloud. Fuqingshan unleashed golden light that easily tore through the demonic mist, and the two cudgels struck the pig demon's chest in quick succession.
"Ah!"
These two glittering strikes made the pig demon cough up blood. Unable to bear the force, its body swelled drastically, on the verge of reverting to its true form. Just as Li Yuanjiao was about to strike again, he heard Yuan Chengdun call out:
"No need for you to intervene, Daoist brother! It has been a long time since Chengdun met such a clumsy, thick-skinned demon pig, and rarely does a demon stand its ground instead of fleeing upon seeing me! Allow me to indulge my hands a bit!"
Li Yuanjiao paused slightly, then chuckled, riding the wind to pull back. Amidst the black mist, golden light flared brilliantly. The pig demon had grown to the size of a palace hall, its black bristles bristling like armor, and its eyes glowed an eerie green, making for a truly terrifying sight.
Yuan Chengdun did not care in the slightest, raising his short cudgels to strike. Although those two short cudgels seemed like nothing more than golden skewers before the colossal pig demon, the demon did not dare let down its guard, straining with all its might to resist while howling:
"It's Fuqingshan! Where has Old Pig offended you people of the Yuan family that you would travel thousands of li just to ambush me?!"
The pig demon had noticed Li Yuanjiao as well, but did not connect him to the Li family at all. After all, if the Li family wanted to kill him, Li Tongya would certainly strike, and he would have long since been sliced into several pieces on the ground; why bother going through so many convoluted schemes?
Yuan Chengdun only laughed. "How many man-eating demons have these short cudgels battered to death? What does offending or not offending have to do with anything!"
The pig demon was thick-skinned and tough, yet unable to run. Chased down and bludgeoned relentlessly, it wailed and shrieked in agony, vomiting blood nonstop.
'Fuqingshan truly lives up to its reputation.'
Yuan Chengdun's grip on the cudgels was rather strange: holding them by their ends, it was as if he were swinging two short hammers, smashing with resounding thuds. Li Yuanjiao watched his techniques closely and could not resist urging, "Hold back some of your strength, Daoist brother! Do not beat it to death!"
Even as he spoke, cyan-gray spring water welled up from beneath his feet. Black serpent-dragons coiled upward and fanned out in all directions, setting off to seize the shivering Qi Refinement demons within the array.
'This cudgel technique is no ordinary art...'
Examining it closely, Li Yuanjiao realized Yuan Chengdun's cudgel art was likely the legacy the Yuan family had obtained from the Yanyang Temple Palace in the north—at least rank four, ancient and grand, pummeling the pig demon until it cried for mercy.
'Fuqingshan is probably an immortal foundation of the same type as Jade Court General, capable of bolstering the cultivator's body and excelling in combat...'
After watching for a while, the rustling sound of water reached his ears; the Jing Dragon King returned, dragging along several Qi Refinement demons.
"One late Qi Refinement, two early Qi Refinement..."
The gap between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refinement was as vast as that between a mortal and an immortal cultivator. Li Yuanjiao cast a casual glance and paid them no further heed. Meanwhile, the pig demon howled madly:
"Behind this general is the direct lineage of the Demon Cave, and I came under orders to investigate! You lots better not fail to appreciate my kindness... Ah!"
Taking several more blows from the cudgels, its eyes turned blood-red. Surging with momentum, it bared its massive maw and spat out a blood-red river churning with dense swarms of skulls and hand bones, rushing straight toward Yuan Chengdun.
Yuan Chengdun did not care at all. With a flick of his finger, a large, translucent hide flew out. With a roll and a hook, the blood-red river crashed to the ground, thrashing twice like a dead serpent before falling still.
Having fought to his heart's content, Yuan Chengdun had deployed several variations of cudgel arts in quick succession. The pig demon was already half-dead, slumped limply on the ground.
"Less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn... Daoist brother truly possesses superb cudgel arts!"
Li Yuanjiao praised him. A light sheen of sweat covered Yuan Chengdun's face, and he seemed in high spirits as he answered, "The dharmic power of my immortal foundation can disperse demonic origin energy, preventing him from forming a single spell. His physique and magical tools are both far inferior to mine, and under the cover of this array, there is no way into heaven and no door into the earth—naturally, he would meet such an end."
Li Yuanjiao floated down lightly, sealing the pig demon's acupoints, meridians, and Dao foundation. Black serpent-dragons surged forth, trussing up all the demons, large and small. Only then did he stow away the formation disc. Yuan Chengdun smiled slightly, preparing to take his leave, but both abruptly closed their mouths.
Outside where the grand array had stood, a man was standing. He looked to be in his thirties or forties, possessing mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation. He was clad in an incongruous Daoist robe, with light brown skin and eyes with slit pupils like those of a serpent-dragon, casting out pulses of brownish-red light as he watched the two men in silence.
Li Yuanjiao and Yuan Chengdun instantly grew vigilant. But the Foundation Establishment cultivator already spoke, rasping, "A member of the Li family?"
Li Yuanjiao cupped his hands slightly and nodded. "And your honorable self is?"
The man cast a wary glance at Yuan Chengdun, his tone softening considerably. "An old Shanyue friend... I am Fei Luoya. I wonder how Daoist Tongya... is doing these days?"
"So it is Senior Fei Luoya! I am Li Yuanjiao."
Li Yuanjiao immediately understood. This man was precisely the Foundation Establishment cultivator left behind at Mount Wu, the Li family's close neighbor: the Shanyue Foundation Establishment cultivator Fei Luoya.
Back when the Li family was a vassal under Eastern Shanyue, this man had arrived just in time for Li Yuanjiao's granduncle, Li Tongya, to deter him using the reputation of a sword immortal propped up by the Xiao and Fei families. Later, they had even traded for precious herbs from him, so there was some history between them.
Having fought for quite some time on someone else's territory, it was no wonder this Shanyue Foundation Establishment cultivator had tracked them down. Li Yuanjiao offered a couple of polite apologies. Fei Luoya waved his hand and asked in a low voice, "And this gentleman is?"
"Yuan Chengdun of the Xunlin Plain's Yuan family."
Yuan Chengdun nodded slightly, saying steadily, "Under orders from my clan elders to assist the Li family in slaying demons..."
Fei Luoya gave an acknowledging grunt, an understanding look crossing his face. He said raspily, "Happening upon you here, there are a couple of matters I would like to discuss."
Yuan Chengdun caught the hint, cupping his fists as he answered, "The matter here is concluded. Chengdun takes his leave."
Li Yuanjiao carried the magical mirror on him and understood this Shanyue cultivator's temperament, so he felt no fear and generously let Yuan Chengdun depart. Fei Luoya then remarked:
"Daoist Tongya severed Maha with his sword, winning immense renown. Though I dwell in this impoverished and crude land, I too have heard of it. I wonder...?"
Li Yuanjiao had already dodged the topic once. Seeing him harp on it, he replied, "The Old Ancestor has entered closed-door seclusion."
Fei Luoya raised an eyebrow. Eyes rendered exceptionally terrifying by a bizarre cultivation method stared at Li Yuanjiao as he gave a strange laugh. "After all, he severed Maha with his sword. Daoist Tongya must have suffered no light injury..."
Li Yuanjiao narrowed his eyes slightly. Before he could answer, Fei Luoya spoke again:
"To provoke Maha out of nowhere... it must have been... the assignment of that personage..."
How sharp was Li Yuanjiao? His thoughts raced like lightning, and he realized at once:
'Back then, Granduncle must have borrowed the banner of some Violet Palace power!'
Immediately putting on an impressed expression, he said, "So Senior shares such deep friendship with my granduncle! Forgive this junior's discourtesy."
These words took Fei Luoya aback. Li Yuanjiao continued, "Though the higher-up shields our clan, there are certain orders... that one simply cannot refuse..."
Fei Luoya had done dirty and grueling work under Duanmu Kui for so many years, so he naturally felt deep empathy. Having already harbored quite a favorable impression of Li Tongya, he allowed Li Yuanjiao to close the distance between them, answering:
"I wonder when Li Tongya will emerge from seclusion? I have a deal I wish to make with him."
Li Yuanjiao said, "Senior, please speak."
"To kill someone, naturally."
Fei Luoya paused, then said in a deep voice:
"I have a fellow disciple named Fu Daimu, a late Foundation Establishment cultivator situated to my south. Our relationship has always been strained.
"Recently, I heard that his Dao companion entered seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment. I feel catastrophe looming—nine chances out of ten, he will come to kill me afterward."
Fei Luoya shook his head. "Since he may kill me, why not find someone to kill him first? I have already enlisted another fellow disciple, but that is still not enough. I thought of asking Daoist Tongya to lend a hand; then success would surely be guaranteed."
Not wanting to be dragged inexplicably into a Foundation Establishment feud, Li Yuanjiao shook his head gently. But Fei Luoya's red, slit eyes gleamed as he waved his hand:
"If Daoist Tongya does not make a move, I will abandon this territory and leave. In the future, with a late Foundation Establishment Shanyue shaman cultivator lurking beside your noble clan, I imagine your days will not be easy."
Li Yuanjiao raised his brows to look at him. Fei Luoya looked somewhat nonchalant, speaking in a drawl:
"Fu Daimu possesses the magical tool Human Head Mountain, which just happens to require vital blood essence for refining."
Li Yuanjiao exhaled softly and asked, "Do you... Great Shamans still maintain connections within the Qingchi Sect? I fear Fu Daimu might have a backer."
Fei Luoya said raspily, "How would a down-and-out Foundation Establishment cultivator like me know such things? Your noble clan has deep connections; this matter naturally depends on your Li family."
Seeing Li Yuanjiao lower his head in thought, Fei Luoya grew serious and continued:
"I came this time with no intention of causing trouble, only hoping your noble clan will prepare early... I, Fei Luoya, simply do not wish to leave my ancestral land, unable to swallow this grievance. But your noble clan cannot uproot yourselves and move!"
The Shanyue cultivator paused and lowered his voice:
"Surely Daoist brother knows how this world works: without a Violet Palace backer, Foundation Establishment cultivators are merely pawns... I have truly had enough of endless torment, of bleak days where I do not even dare step outside my mountain gate!
"I have practiced shamanic arts for many years and pride myself on possessing some valor. I ask you to put in a good word for me before that personage. If we could work together in the future, it would truly be wonderful."
Leaving these words, Fei Luoya lightly cupped his hands, took his leave, and departed. Li Yuanjiao stood with bowed head, silent, wryly thinking to himself:
'You are hardly the only one. My clan has had enough of being pawns as well! We too want a Violet Palace master of our own to shield us!'
...
Within the mirror world.
On Lu Jiangxian's desk, jade slips were already piled into a small hill. The stone stools were also packed full, and the ground around his white robe was similarly strewn with jade slips of all kinds, rolling about with nowhere left to set foot.
"Li Yuanjiao running about east and west this trip... has yielded quite a harvest!"
This time, Li Yuanjiao had genuinely journeyed into the core territory of the Yuan family, and had even gathered gains from Xiuyue, rogue cultivators, Xuanyue, and various commanderies. The lad had even journeyed upstream along the great river, reaching the borders of the Shen family—a Violet Palace immortal clan under Xiuyue's jurisdiction.
At present, he had recorded a total of 668 Embryonic Breathing methods, 98 Qi Refinement methods, 21 Foundation Establishment methods, and 15 miscellaneous cultivation crafts. Lu Jiangxian manifested them all one by one, filling the entire mountaintop.
Looking at the jade slips covering the ground, Lu Jiangxian felt a deep sense of security. He slowly extended his hand, radiance coursing across his palm to condense into an azure jade slip:
The rank-six cultivation method, Six Weirs Qingyun Essentials—an immortal method pointing straight to the Violet Palace!
This was the first time Lu Jiangxian had obtained a rank-six cultivation method, as well as his first complete lineage of a Violet Palace immortal art. It was a heritage the Yuan family had secretly concealed for 1,600 years, sealed beneath Mount Yuanyan of the Yuan family, fortified by seven layers of secret arrays that isolated it from the Great Void, such that even Violet Palace cultivators could not enter.
Naturally, under Lu Jiangxian's divine sense, let alone seven layers of secret arrays, even seventy layers would be useless; the array capable of isolating the Great Void had merely caused him a momentary pause and nothing more.
As the Yuan family's clan-protecting treasure, the Six Weirs Qingyun Essentials was naturally encrypted with a secret technique. Unfortunately, the jade slip recording that cipher was hidden beneath an ancestral tablet, which Lu Jiangxian had read all the same.
Poring over this Violet Palace immortal method for a while, Lu Jiangxian fell into thought.
The Six Weirs Qingyun Essentials centered on the Dao foundation Xuanyangzi, allowing one to cultivate it all the way to a Violet Palace divine ability. Centered around this rank-six method were four other cultivation methods for Foundation Establishment immortal foundations of the same lineage; cultivating them one by one after breaking through to the Violet Palace would allow one to achieve the peak of the Violet Palace realm.
These five orthodox immortal foundations were: Qingxianyue, Fuqingshan, Shangyanshen, Guandiming, and Xuanyangzi.
The five immortal foundations pointed toward the same golden nature, called the Qingyan Divine Peak Fuyuan Nature.
Appended at the end of the scroll was another method whose cultivated immortal foundation was called Xiayangyuan, specially prepared in case one failed to master a particular immortal foundation; it could substitute for one of the immortal foundations of the Qingyan golden nature to condense the golden nature.
"Truly a complete heritage—they even prepared a lower-grade Dao complement as a substitute... That Yanyang Temple Palace back then must not have been a mediocre lineage."
Yuan Huyuan had claimed that the heritage obtained from the Yanyang Temple Palace was mostly lost, but seeing how complete the Six Weirs Qingyun Essentials was, that was clearly a lie meant to maintain a low profile and cover it up.
"Yet with the Yuan family clearly possessing a Violet Palace immortal art, how could they have failed to produce a single Violet Palace cultivator over hundreds and thousands of years?"
Lu Jiangxian studied it closely for a while, only then discovering that the problem lay with the worldly spiritual qi required for Xuanyangzi, the core immortal foundation of this art: Shenyang Mystic Qi.
"To gather Shenyang Mystic Qi, one must seek Azure Shen boulders baked beneath the blazing sun; harvesting for a year yields one strand, and ten years yield one wisp of Azure Shen Qi, which must then be refined for another ten years using demonized Chu sheep as sacrifices..."
Appended densely after the harvesting method for Shenyang Mystic Qi were over a dozen experimental methods—all involving failed spiritual qi substitutes added by later generations.
"In that case, everything becomes clear... When the Yuan family migrated from the north, they were cut off from the source of this Shenyang Mystic Qi. As their stored worldly spiritual qi dwindled with use, the few Foundation Establishment cultivators who attempted the breakthrough failed one after another, and the path of this method was gradually severed...
"Instead, the Yuan clansmen frequently used several of the auxiliary Dao foundations... but no matter how they cultivated them, they were capped at the peak of Foundation Establishment, their future path cut short."
Holding this Violet Palace immortal art in hand, Lu Jiangxian read through the divine ability section carefully, feeling suddenly enlightened; he finally found inspiration for the Violet Palace section of the Golden Hall Huangyuan Formula, which he had long struggled to compile.
"As for so many cultivation methods, they cannot be bestowed casually. If someone of the Li family cultivates the Six Weirs Qingyun Essentials, we would likely fall out completely with the Yuan family and draw unwanted attention."
Chapter 386