When Li Yuanjiao set out for the Eastern Sea, nearly half a year had passed by the time he returned. Treading atop a jet-black hook snake and carrying a white crucian carp demon fish the size of a house in his hand, he arrived from the north.
The weather was sweltering, and the stench of fish hung thick in the air. Li Yuanjiao tossed the white crucian carp demon into the lake, instructed Wushao to keep close watch over it, and only then headed up the mountain.
Clad in white robes, Li Xijun rode the wind to meet him. Before him, Li Yuanjiao wore his usual unsmiling expression. He and the hook snake Li Wushao had pursued their quarry relentlessly, searching the boundless Eastern Sea for nearly half a year for this white crucian carp demon, before finally capturing the beast and bringing it back.
"The Eastern Sea is truly vast. If something dives into its depths, I fear even a Violet Palace master would fail to find it," Li Yuanjiao remarked with a sigh.
If not for the hook snake Li Wushao being thoroughly familiar with the sea, and their side having caught the creature off guard with an array set up to seal it off, how could they have captured it in less than a year or two? Had Li Yuanjiao gone alone, he likely would have been worn down to death in the sea by countless monsters.
"Even with my Dao Foundation, [Jing Dragon King], it proved so exhausting. No wonder so few cultivators venture into the Eastern Sea."
Hearing this, Li Xijun reminded him in a low voice, "Now that Uncle has captured the demon beast, you should also interrogate it about the matters of Water Virtue to see if they match Senior Wushao's words, just in case!"
Li Yuanjiao naturally understood his concern and answered, "I have already questioned it. It largely aligns with what Wushao said. Such information is indeed widely circulated across the sea."
With that, he continued, "On this trip, I ran into someone from the Wanyu Sword Gate named Cheng Gao. He is a dashing sword cultivator who helped me a great deal along the way, pointing out several demon dens that had caused much harm. Bear this in mind: in the future, if you encounter anyone from the Sword Gate, treat them with utmost courtesy."
"Understood."
Seeing Li Xijun acknowledge this, Li Yuanjiao asked, "Regarding our clan seeking the secret art of harvesting spiritual natures from the Yuan family, how many people know of this news?"
Li Xijun answered, "Passersby on the road inquire whenever they see Senior Wushao. Before long, everyone should know."
"That is good, then!"
Li Yuanjiao nodded. Li Xijun then brought up another matter: "Senior Fei Luoya has come looking for you twice, urging us to eliminate Fu Daimu as soon as possible. He said he would pay another visit in a little over a month."
Li Yuanjiao gave a slight wave of his hand, indicating he understood, and thought to himself:
*Within the next few months, I will settle this matter once and for all. Better that than leaving it hanging over my head and nourishing a tiger that invites calamity.*
Li Xijun gestured forward and smiled. "Throughout the clan, inside and outside the peaks, both sacrificial ceremonies have been fully arranged. All that remains is the offering."
"Good, good," Li Yuanjiao nodded with a gentle smile. "It is wonderful that you younger ones can hold up the family."
"It was Elder Brother who bustled about attending to everything; I dare not claim any credit," Li Xijun replied, retrieving a letter from his sleeve. "A letter arrived from the Qingchi Sect. It should be from Brother Xizhi regarding his maneuvering within the sect concerning Fu Daimu."
...
"Herein offered by the Li family of Lijing, reverently preparing pure wine and varied delicacies, cold food and sacrificial beasts, year after year the incense never ceasing... Across the Three Primes and Six Festivals, never failing in reverence; on sacrifice times and feast days, offerings without end... Sacrificing with rising smoke, paying tribute with blood..."
Blood qi and incense billowed into the mirror, transforming into flowing talisman qi. This was the first time the Li family had ever offered such abundant sacrifices. Lu Jiangxian swirled the talisman qi, condensing it into a ball in his hand, intending to embed several cultivation techniques within it.
In the past, talisman qi carried no cultivation methods. But now, Lu Jiangxian possessed a mountain of techniques; even if he bestowed them bit by bit, they would last for well over five hundred years, and their numbers were likely only to grow in the future.
The ones receiving the talismans were naturally Li Ximing and Li Xijun. Yet holding the talisman qi in hand, with so many cultivation methods and secret arts at his disposal, Lu Jiangxian found himself at an impasse, unsure of what to pack inside.
*The Li clan does not particularly lack ordinary spells and incantations right now... Though there are many Foundation Establishment methods, bestowing them recklessly might be a waste.*
With Li Yuanjiao having broken through to Foundation Establishment, alongside the hook snake and Li Qinghong, and with Li Ximing, Li Xizhi, and Li Xijun all holding hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, in just two or three decades the framework of a great prominent clan could finally be erected.
*The next step—plotting for a Violet Palace—will likely prove exceedingly arduous.*
He had initially thought to refine the *Golden Hall Huangyuan Formula* and cultivate a Violet Palace path through it; after all, this lineage had no established orthodoxy in Jiangnan, so there was no need to worry about being consumed.
Yet the current situation was turbulent and unsettled. While Lu Jiangxian now knew many Violet Palace-level secrets, he could only dimly perceive the machinations at play. Unable to gauge the true temperaments of the Violet Palace figures in Jiangnan, he would likely need to take a multi-pronged approach.
*If one more Violet Palace clan emerges, the Chen and Xiao Violet Palace immortal clans would surely be glad to see it... They would love nothing more than having a few more Violet Palace figures to share their burden. As for the Three Sects and Seven Gates, each harbors their own calculations, making them truly difficult to fathom...*
His gaze roved across the map of the State of Yue before him, settling upon the Xiuyue Sect to the north.
"At the very least, neither the other two sects nor the seven gates wish to see Shangyuan achieve the Golden Core. Though Xiuyue has always maintained a low profile, Shangyuan possesses a righteous nature. Between the other two sects and the seven gates, who doesn't have sordid interests and murky dealings? Having one more Golden Core who detests evil as a personal enemy would hardly be a good thing.
"As for Buddhism, they are even more unwilling..."
Lu Jiangxian looked around and could not help but sigh.
"Shangyuan is truly surrounded by enemies on all sides. No wonder there has been no movement for so long; they are likely still maneuvering against one another, trading interests in secret..."
Looking through the assortment of cultivation methods, the Yuan family was currently an ally of the Li clan, so granting the *Six Weirs Azure Cloud Essentials* would serve no purpose. The best of the remaining options was the *Pheasant Fire Continuous Motion Art*, a fourth-rank cultivation method, but it lacked the [Continuous Motion Pheasant Fire].
The [Continuous Motion Pheasant Fire] was also a type of heaven-and-earth spiritual qi. The original qi-gathering formula required finding a type of heaven-and-earth spiritual flame called [Continuous Motion Primordial Fire] and using it to harvest yang qi in order to produce this Continuous Motion Pheasant Fire. Such flame was exceedingly rare in Jiangnan, making it impossible to harvest the qi.
"This, however, is not insurmountable."
Li Yuanjiao still had a wisp of [Xuanyang Li Fire] on hand, which could be converted into [Continuous Motion Primordial Fire] using the *Leap Yang Method*. Though the expense would be exorbitant, the Li family of today was not what it once was; pooling their resources together, they could manage it.
"It is just uncertain whether this cultivation method has any dao complements."
Lu Jiangxian had read many records left by the ancestors of rogue cultivators, piecing together knowledge bit by bit. Among the Three Sects and Seven Gates, the Three Sects possessed many paths to the Violet Palace: Qingchi mostly followed Water Virtue; Jinyu mostly drew from metal, stone, sand, and smoke; while Xiuyue drew from Jade Reality, clouds, and mists.
The Seven Gates also rarely pursued the path of Fire Virtue, save for the Hengzhu Dao Gate to the south, which excelled in fire arts and invocation rituals and held a prominent standing among the Seven Gates.
"Though the Hengzhu Dao Gate has a good reputation, the Qingchi Sect is truly capable of handing over a Foundation Establishment cultivator from a clan under its rule to the Hengzhu Dao Gate..."
For a moment, he felt a slight headache coming on. He set aside the *Pheasant Fire Continuous Motion Art* as a provisional choice, intending to let the Li family investigate it themselves. Then, sifting through the piles of cultivation methods, he found a secret art:
"*Hanxue Ji*."
This secret art had been discovered by Lu Jiangxian in a demon den while Li Yuanjiao was traversing the great river. It recorded qi-gathering methods for three kinds of cold qi and a technique for locating spiritual water. Although one of the cold qi methods overlapped with what the Li clan already possessed, it offered the opportunity to cultivate [Tujun Sunflower Light] to the threshold of mastery.
Having carefully prepared the talisman qi, he sank back into compiling the Violet Palace chapter of the *Golden Hall Huangyuan Formula*.
Chapter 389