Li Yuanjiao read the Moon Crescent Sword Scripture among the mountains for a while, taking time out to write a reply to Li Xizhi, recounting recent family matters.
The Li family was currently preparing to head overseas. With their present strength, capturing a Foundation Establishment demon beast and bringing it back was no longer difficult; they could extract talisman qi for Li Xizhi. Li Yuanjiao had kept this in mind and specially written to ask about it.
He waited over a month. Kongheng had yet to return, but Li Xizhi's letter arrived first:
"...Your son has already broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Refinement with a solid foundation. Breaking through to the eighth layer will only take three to five years. Taking pills after that, I will already be on the verge of Foundation Establishment. That qi can augment cultivation, so using it now would truly be a waste. It would be better to wait until I break through to Foundation Establishment before I make a trip home..."
Li Yuanjiao understood Li Xizhi's reasoning and nodded inwardly. Li Xizhi was a disciple of an immortal sect with many spells to practice, so he was in no hurry to break through to Foundation Establishment—he could well afford to postpone it a little longer. Thus, Li Yuanjiao set the thought aside to wait until after he established his foundation.
Counting the days, Li Xizhi was already thirty-five this year. Li Yuanjiao felt a wave of dazed contemplation. Turning his thoughts to himself, he was already over fifty years old. However, because he had achieved Qi Refinement so early, he still looked like a man just entering middle age.
"A pity I suffered successive injuries that delayed my cultivation, or else I might have touched the fringes of the middle stage of Foundation Establishment."
The talisman qi's boost to Li Yuanjiao's cultivation speed had been prominent during Qi Refinement, but Foundation Establishment had only three layers, so the effect had been slow to show, leaving him feeling somewhat behind.
"Still, it was unavoidable."
Holding the pale purple jade slip in hand, he watched a man climb up from below. The man had a square face, a broad mouth, and a tall, sturdy frame, appearing middle-aged. He bowed respectfully and said, "Xicheng pays his respects to the Ancestor."
Li Xicheng had already broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement. Over the years, he had been diligent and conscientious, acting by the book without committing any blunders. Li Yuanjiao inquired in a gentle tone, and Li Xicheng replied:
"Reporting to the Ancestor, something happened at that demonic den to the east... I had dispatched men to keep watch on it long ago. There was little activity over the past few years, but early this morning, fierce fighting broke out without pause. Blood light soared into the sky amidst shouts of slaughter everywhere. The scouts who returned reported that the demonic den has already been destroyed."
"How many came?" Li Yuanjiao asked in a deep voice.
Li Xicheng answered, "Only one."
"Foundation Establishment?"
Li Yuanjiao frowned slightly. Li Xicheng hesitated before saying, "I heard that the person came from the east. The demonic cultivators in the den swarmed him together, yet he slaughtered most of them, leaving only three to five to escape in the end."
Hearing this, Li Yuanjiao frowned. "Not Foundation Establishment? Qi Refinement..."
That pack of demonic cultivators were no fools; if they encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would have turned and fled without question, never charging forward. And if a Foundation Establishment master had made a move, it would hardly have taken a drawn-out struggle only to let three to five escape.
Li Xicheng nodded gently and replied, "The intruder wielded a golden hammer and spat fire from his mouth. After fighting for quite a while, he barely managed to drive the demonic cultivators into scattered flight. Perhaps he is a cultivator from the Eastern Sea..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of purple lightning descended from the sky. Li Qinghong emerged from seclusion, radiating high spirits. Li Yuanjiao waved for Li Xicheng to withdraw and fell into deep contemplation.
Li Qinghong intercepted Li Xicheng and listened attentively to his detailed account before letting him leave. She spoke:
"Zhang Yun personally escorted them and even went out of his way to intimidate the surrounding families into keeping away. It seems he was simply waiting for this person to come knocking!"
Li Yuanjiao nodded and deduced, "Perhaps they deliberately wanted to deliver some cultivation method or magical artifact into this person's hands. They specifically set up this game, leaving behind clues and putting on an act so it would fall into his hands... It is Jinyu Sect setting up a board, either looking to prey on someone or merely make use of him."
The Li family was already an established clan. Having weathered all these years, they had come to understand many methods of the Three Sects and Seven Gates. In the past, inexperienced novices, they had been trapped inside the game. Now, Li Yuanjiao saw through it at a glance. Letting out a sigh of relief, he said thoughtfully, "Back when the Maha laid his scheme, those clans must have viewed our Li family in the very same light... holding their tongues in trepidation, waiting to see how events unfolded before reacting."
Li Qinghong nodded. She had come to understand that no matter who that person was, the Li family could not afford to touch the matter, terrified of bringing ruin upon themselves. Li Qinghong said gently, "As long as there is an outcome, it is fine. With this demonic den resolved and Zhang Yun departing, we can relax a bit."
Just as brother and sister breathed a sigh of relief, the narrow-eyed monk Kongheng, wind-blown and travel-worn, rode the wind down into the formation. Uttering a Buddhist invocation, he said, "This humble monk has fortunately fulfilled the commission without failing."
With that, he presented a letter. Li Qinghong cradled her spear and looked him up and down. The monk kept his eyes lowered and his brows cast down, lightly beaded with sweat. He murmured a couple of polite pleasantries and hurriedly retreated outside the mountain.
Her brow arched slightly, Li Qinghong said nothing. Beside her, Li Yuanjiao merely swept his gaze up and down, finishing the letter sent by Kong Tingyun.
Kong Tingyun's handwriting was elegant and her phrasing casual. Right from the start, she lashed out scathingly at Situ Mo, reviling him as sinister, cunning, faithless, and dishonorable. She warmly invited the Li family to come settle down, declaring that it would thoroughly disgust Situ Mo.
Her tone sounded as if she were laughing to his face, devoid of any aloofness or distance. At the end, she added:
"In late June, a group of disciples from our sect will head overseas. If convenient for Brother Jiao, you may come along with them and protect the juniors of my clan on the way, sparing me another trip..."
'That is quite nice.'
Li Yuanjiao nodded to himself. If they could travel together with people from Xuanyue Gate, they could watch out for one another and guard against Buddhist cultivators causing trouble.
Beside him, Li Qinghong took the letter from his hand, glanced over it, and chuckled. "This Kong Tingyun is surprisingly sweet."
Her almond eyes lingered discreetly on her elder brother's face. Seeing that Li Yuanjiao's expression remained unchanged as he merely planned ahead in thoughtful silence, she let out a quiet breath of relief and thought to herself:
'Sister-in-law's talent falls short, after all; she is only at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement. Once she breaks through, we can send another talisman pill over. Even though Brother and Sister-in-law are deeply affectionate spouses, the disparity cannot become too vast...'
Li Qinghong had spent many years with Xiao Guiluan and was deeply fond of her. Li Yuanjiao had always modeled himself after Li Tongya, never bending rules for personal favoritism; hence Xiao Guiluan had never received any choice resources, with only Li Qinghong sending pills over from time to time.
While Li Qinghong was lost in thought, Li Yuanjiao saw at a glance that she was distracted. When he asked about it, Li Qinghong shook her head repeatedly, prompting Li Yuanjiao to say, "The agreed date is drawing near. Pack your things, and let us depart together."
Cradling her spear, Li Qinghong replied, "There is nothing to pack. Let's go!"
Li Yuanjiao then summoned the brothers Li Xicheng and Li Xijun, along with Li Wushao, instructing them to manage the household prudently and avoid acting rashly. Only then did he and Li Qinghong call for Kongheng and ride the wind aloft together.
Fearing the scrying calculations of Buddhist cultivators, they flew swiftly. Barely a day had passed, and the sky had just begun to pale at dawn when Shanji Commandery of Xuanyue Gate appeared before them.
Coming out to meet them head-on was an elderly man of plain features with two small moles, draped in jade pendants of various sizes that jingled pleasantly. The moment he stepped forward, he burst into laughter: "Kong Yu of Xuanyue greets fellow Daoists!"
Back then, Kong Yu had been invited by Li Xuanxuan to the Li family to move a mountain, and he had revealed the matter of One-Incense Families. He could be considered a friend of Li Xuanxuan. At the time, Li Yuanjiao had been in seclusion and had not met him, but Li Qinghong had seen the elder, so she greeted him politely: "Greetings, Senior!"
"Ah! I dare not, I dare not—you flatter this old man to death!"
Kong Yu wore a wry smile. When he had visited the Li family back then, Li Qinghong was still a Qi Refinement cultivator, so playing the elder posed no problem. Now, in the blink of an eye, Li Qinghong was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. How could Kong Yu dare presume? He repeatedly declined the honorific and asked, "Is Fellow Daoist Xuanxuan well?"
"My father is quite hale and healthy," Li Yuanjiao answered.
After exchanging pleasantries for a moment, several young men and women flew up from below. All were Qi Refinement cultivators who gazed at the two with deep envy, bowing respectfully: "Greetings to the two seniors!"
Li Qinghong still retained the appearance of a young maiden. Clad in jade armor and silver boots, valiant and heroic, she left several of the male Xuanyue disciples wide-eyed, unable to resist looking despite their trepidation, much to Kong Yu's embarrassment.
Li Yuanjiao looked more mature, and his demeanor hardly resembled that of an orthodox figure, so naturally none of them dared meet his eyes. Li Yuanjiao merely sized up the disciples and mused to himself: 'Their cultivation is even worse than my family's Xijun, and they lack the haughty grace of disciples from great sects. They are probably not core direct descendants.'
The group joined together and soon set off, traveling downriver toward the Eastern Sea.
***
Wutu Peak.
Li Ximing exhaled slowly. Two streaks of bright fire seemed to kindle in his eyes, dancing and surging before turning into a sheet of golden radiance that slowly dissolved into nothingness. With a gentle inhalation, he drew the Continuous Motion Primordial Fire before him into his abdomen.
Two years ago, he had consumed a talisman pill to break through to the ninth layer of Qi Refinement. After recuperating, gathering strength, and polishing his cultivation for a time, he had already brought it to completion.
In Li Tongya's generation, pills were scarce, making the polishing of cultivation a slow, painstaking grind that often took three to five years. By his generation, all manner of pills had gradually grown plentiful, and Li Ximing had no shortage of them in hand, making his progress astonishingly swift.
With a flick of his wrist, he produced a jade bottle containing the Suiyuan Pill, musing to himself: 'This pill from Brother Zhi... I do not really need it... It would be best to save it for Xijun...'
Li Ximing could make no boasts about other things, but in matters of cultivation, he brimmed with confidence. His heart was dedicated to the Dao, and with a spiritual fire of heaven and earth nestled in his abdomen, through years of dual cultivation and consuming fire and flame, he had a faint premonition that he was intrinsically aligned with this path, giving him great confidence in achieving Foundation Establishment.
Even so, Li Ximing still hesitated slightly. Failing Foundation Establishment meant death and the dissipation of one's cultivation path. Had it been anyone else, even if he had a ninety-nine percent chance of success, he would have kept the thought buried in his stomach rather than yielding the pill.
But Li Xijun was not just anyone. In this lifetime, there were precious few people or things Li Ximing truly held close to his heart, and Li Xijun was definitely one of them. This younger brother, born only a few days after him, came to visit him day after day with earnest devotion. Li Ximing could not bear to neglect him.
Gritting his teeth, Li Ximing set the jade bottle onto the table. Restraining the urge to pick it back up, he locked the room door and turned to walk out.
Before him, Meng Zhuoyun's black hair cascaded loosely, the ends bound with red cord and bearing a tiny cyan-gold orchid. In urgent need of forgetting that bottle of Suiyuan Pill, Li Ximing pulled her into his arms.
Meng Zhuoyun curled her lips and undid her clothes with practiced familiarity. Li Ximing mumbled incoherently as she let him have his way, hesitating over some decision.
She suddenly asked, "Brother Ming, will you keep me?"
Li Ximing frowned, repeating as he had a hundred or two hundred times before: "Go settle your affairs on your own."
Li Ximing was also lost in thought. Their bodies were long familiar and fitted together naturally, yet both were distracted. Meng Zhuoyun pressed both hands against his chest and suddenly spoke: "Li Ximing."
It was the first time Li Ximing had heard her address him directly by name. He froze. Meng Zhuoyun said softly, "You only rely on the Li family..."
"Do you think you are a genius? You rely solely on the shelter of your elders. Strip away everything the Li family has given you, and what about you can be shown to the world? Hm?"
Sweat rolled down Meng Zhuoyun's delicate, lovely face as she panted continuously, yet her eyes were calm. She said softly, "Even without the backing of an established clan, Li Yuanjiao could be a fierce warlord, Li Xijun could be a swordsman, and Li Xicheng could be a shopkeeper. What about you? You are merely a coward."
Li Ximing closed his eyes as if struck where it hurt most. Only after several breaths did he murmur in a low voice, "Stop... Say no more..."
Meng Zhuoyun pulled his hands away, let out a long breath, and said softly, "This concubine takes her leave."
She rose decisively from the ground and dumped out the contents of her storage bag with a clatter: medicinal pills, secret arts, paintings, and Li Ximing's clothing showered down upon him.
Almost under Li Ximing's disbelieving, caught-off-guard gaze, Meng Zhuoyun draped on her robe, pinched a gesture for the Clothes Cleansing Technique, and walked out of the courtyard. Her black hair fluttered in the breeze, her expression resolute.
She had taken only two steps when she saw a young man in white standing in the woods, blocking her path.
He had sword-like brows and star-like eyes, cradling a sword in his arms. Even though Meng Zhuoyun was in disarray, her snow-white skin half-exposed, he merely lowered his gaze and politely turned his face aside.
Meng Zhuoyun shook her head gently, the cyan-gold orchid in her hair shimmering beneath the moonlight. Her soft, alluring eyes were starkly black and white, filled with stubborn defiance: "What business does Senior have?"
Li Xijun extended a hand and said politely, "I hope to inspect Fellow Daoist's storage bag."
Meng Zhuoyun curtsied and handed over the storage bag. Li Xijun inspected it for a while and confirmed there was indeed nothing related to his family. Uttering an apology, he returned the bag, yet his feet remained rooted in place.
Meng Zhuoyun had no choice but to cast an art and swear the Xuanjing Spiritual Oath never to disclose any information regarding the Li family. Yet Li Xijun did not let her go; with a slightly apologetic lowering of his brow, he said softly, "It is said that Fellow Daoist wields a marvelous brush for painting?"
Although he was very courteous, the Hanlin Sword at his back shone brilliantly. Meng Zhuoyun was no fool and understood immediately, adding several lines to her oath. Li Xijun apologized:
"Fellow Daoist has refined quite a few pills for our family, and Brother Ming has wronged you in this matter. These are resources for cultivation, solely to compensate Fellow Daoist for the pills refined over these years."
He untied a storage bag from his waist and handed it over very politely. Meng Zhuoyun's complexion instantly shifted in a mix of shame and annoyance, but seeing the pure sincerity in Li Xijun's eyes, she knew he was not intentionally humiliating her. She took it in silence and murmured, "Thank you."
With that, she rode the wind and departed, wafting away until she vanished into the horizon.
Li Xijun sighed and stepped into the courtyard. Inside was still in utter disarray. Li Ximing was straightening his clothes. Li Xijun let out a dry, wry chuckle: "A fine mess you've made, leaving me to clean up after you..."
Li Ximing said not a word. The painting in the courtyard was still hanging high. Though Li Ximing in the painting was smiling, he appeared cold and merciless, his eyes indifferent as if appraising something.
Irritated to no end by the sight, Li Ximing waved his hand to draw it into his grasp, folded it, and stowed it into his robes, waving his hand to usher his brother outside.
Turning back to gather the paintings scattered all over the courtyard, Li Ximing suddenly lost all zest. He moved his pill furnace out and began refining pills once more.
Chapter 416