In the small courtyard atop Mount Lijing, a grayish-blue bronze mirror was blazing with bright white light, and boiling white moon essence surged out from its surface like water.
When Wan Xiaohua appeared, Li Xiangping and the others had entered the mirror's divine sense range. The Taiyin Mysterious Light within had already been eager to strike, but Lu Jiangxian suppressed the urge to act, wishing to see what trump cards this Yujing Wheel cultivator possessed.
"Doesn't seem like much, does it?"
Seeing Wan Xiaohua suffer consecutive setbacks and face mortal peril, forced by the monster into using a pale-blue talisman and sprinting toward the foot of Mount Lijing under a water barrier, Lu Jiangxian lost interest in watching the show. Silently forming an incantation gesture, he thought to himself:
*I might as well test the waters with this monster!*
With a thought from Lu Jiangxian, the twelve seal runes along the mirror's rim lit up one by one. Enveloped in milky-white moon essence, the grayish-blue mirror slowly hovered up from the stone pedestal, adjusting its angle bit by bit.
"Father..."
Under the shocked gazes of Li Tongya and Li Mutian, white moon essence erupted abruptly, shattering the cottage's skylight and streaking through the sky like a dazzling meteor, leaving behind a floor of shattered stones and scattered gray roof tiles.
Having unleashed the Taiyin Mysterious Light, the grayish-blue mirror finally settled down slowly, dissipating the white moon essence and landing back onto the stone pedestal.
Looking at the shattered tiles and dust covering the ground, Li Tongya was at a loss for words for a moment. Li Mutian choked and coughed twice on the dust, waving his hand at him.
"It's likely related to that monster... Go quickly and see how your younger brother is doing!"
Only then did Li Tongya snap out of it as if waking from a dream. He took off at a run, thinking inwardly:
*How else could he be? With such terrifying power, let alone an Embryonic Breathing monster, even a monster at Qi Refinement would probably be blasted into minced meat.*
***
Wan Xiaohua slapped a Divine Movement Technique onto his legs. Sprinting wildly in the direction of Mount Lijing that Li Xiangping had pointed out earlier, he was filled with bitter regret:
*I've taken a huge loss this time. A Water Barrier Talisman—another half a spirit stone down the drain.*
A vicious gust rushed past his ears. Wan Xiaohua swept his spiritual sense backward, and a small white shield materialized behind him. Borrowing the momentum of the strike, he once again widened the distance between himself and the monster.
"This..."
Wan Xiaohua looked at the mountain ahead, intending to gauge the distance, but he had never expected a dazzling white light to abruptly rise from the mountaintop. It arced through the air and, trailing a long tail of fiery luminescence, hurtled straight toward him.
"Motherfucker..."
Wan Xiaohua nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. He dodged frantically to the side, but the white beam completely ignored him and bypassed him.
Frightened out of his wits, he collapsed onto the ground. He watched the white light sweep across the monster's neck, flying away as effortlessly as tearing through thin paper, leaving behind the high-leaping, headless corpse of the wolf.
*Boom!*
The giant wolf's corpse fell heavily to the ground. Behind it, the white beam knocked down a swath of large trees before disappearing into the distance. The tremor shook the snow from the entire dense forest to the ground, nearly burying Wan Xiaohua.
"Cough, cough, cough."
Wan Xiaohua spat out a few mouthfuls of dirty snow in utter disarray, staring dumbfounded at the hill-like corpse of the monster.
"Patriarch, Patriarch?!"
Wan Tiancang's shouts drew near from the distance. He hurriedly lifted Wan Xiaohua from the snow and asked repeatedly, "Patriarch! How are you?!"
Wan Xiaohua stared blankly at Wan Tiancang and murmured under his breath, "Why use a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken..."
Sweat covered Wan Tiancang's face. Pulling out the vine whip—still flecked with traces of snow—from his robes, he said in a deep voice, "Tiancang was terrified of losing the treasure, so I stayed hidden in the snow. Once that wolf demon gave chase after you, Patriarch, Tiancang retrieved the magical artifact."
"Good, good."
Seeing the artifact, Wan Xiaohua snapped awake and pulled himself together. Stowing the treasure inside his robes, he scrambled to his feet and ran toward the wolf's corpse.
Seeing thick frost clinging to the corpse's neck without a single drop of wolf blood leaking out, Wan Xiaohua quickly formed hand seals and struck the corpse's joints and several major apertures to seal in its spiritual properties.
"This wolf corpse is a fine treasure; its spiritual essence must not be allowed to leak away," Wan Xiaohua said with a broad smile as he stroked the back of the wolf, which was as large as an ox.
"Patriarch, that monster... most likely belongs to them," Wan Tiancang reminded him cautiously, seeing Wan Xiaohua's overjoyed expression.
Wan Xiaohua's smile froze instantly. Glancing down at Wan Tiancang, he said in a low voice, "I know."
"Patriarch Wan!"
Just as Wan Tiancang and Wan Xiaohua stood staring blankly at each other, a loud shout rang out. The two hurried to turn and look, only to see that Li Xiangping and Li Tongya had arrived, leading Chen Erniu and a group of village guards.
"Many thanks to Patriarch Wan for coming to our aid!"
Li Xiangping smiled and cupped his hands. Chen Erniu caught his eye and immediately signaled his village guards to move the corpse.
"I've made a fool of myself." Wan Xiaohua shook off the snow on his body with a wry smile, then inquired, "I wonder about that white light that saved Xiaohua..."
Hearing this, Li Tongya took a step forward at once and said, "My father still kept a few talismans he crafted himself back in the day. Knowing the immortal master came from afar to aid us, he feared that the monster would harm you, so he instructed us to use one."
"So that's how it is!"
Wan Xiaohua let out a long breath. Li Tongya's explanation didn't differ much from his own estimation, and he said with some gratitude, "Then I must thank your esteemed father."
"It is we who should thank the Wan family!"
After exchanging pleasantries, Wan Xiaohua pointed at the monster's corpse and smiled. "I wonder how your clan plans to handle this? The corpse of this wolf demon is difficult to preserve, yet it is full of treasures from head to toe. Its bones and blood can be used to make ink and refine pills, while its pelt and fur can be used to make talismans and clothing. Truly a wonderful thing."
Li Tongya and Li Xiangping exchanged a glance, and Li Tongya said with a wry smile, "Our clan's foundation is shallow; crafting talismans and refining medicine are very difficult for us, so most of it would be useless in our hands. Patriarch Wan can travel to the market, so why not entrust it to your clan to sell?"
"This wolf demon was quite large and possessed some miraculous traits; it likely swallowed some precious medicinal herb. I won't deceive you: sold piece by piece in the market, it can fetch around two or three spirit stones."
Wan Xiaohua pondered for a few breaths, glanced at the two who were listening intently, and continued, "I still have one and a half spirit stones on me. I can give them to you first, and make up the remainder with other items. Have you two ever read *Secrets of Rogue Cultivation*?"
Seeing the two shake their heads, Wan Xiaohua was taken aback and thought to himself: *Is this Li Mutian truly a Foundation Establishment cultivator? There's likely something else going on...*
On the surface, however, he smiled and said, "This secret manual records the key points and cultivation insights of a rogue cultivator at the Lingchu Wheel. I picked it up in the market for a spirit stone or two. It contains a few minor arts, including the Divine Movement Technique and the Spirit Sealing Technique. How about I use it to make up the difference for your clan?"
Looking at Wan Xiaohua's beaming smile, Li Xiangping rubbed his chin and thought: *We have no use for this wolf demon corpse anyway, and apparently it's difficult to preserve. We might as well trade it to Wan Xiaohua. Even if we lose out a bit, each of us gets what we need.*
Thus Li Xiangping smiled and said, "We leave it entirely to Patriarch Wan's discretion."
"Good, good!" Wan Xiaohua was overjoyed and continued, "Please have your clan's men transport the corpse to the border between our two families, and I will summon someone to retrieve it."
"Very well."
The two chatted for a few more moments. Li Xiangping glanced at the sky and cupped his hands. "Would Patriarch Wan like to come sit for a while atop our Mount Lijing?"
"No need, clan affairs are pressing, so I shall head back first. If anything arises in the future, just tell Tiancang to write a letter!"
Wan Xiaohua declined hastily. Mount Lijing had a formation; although the two families appeared on harmonious terms right now, who knew if one could still walk out after going in? Understanding that Li Xiangping was subtly showing him to the door, Wan Xiaohua exchanged a few parting pleasantries and took his leave.
Chapter 43