Snow fell for three straight days, silver-gray flakes raging through the air. Every household kept their doors shut tight against the biting cold that had fully settled over the land. After tidying up the courtyard house in Lijing Village and leaving it in Li Qiuyang's care, Li Tongya took Liu Rouxuan by the hand and headed up Mount Lijing.
Stepping unevenly through the deep snow, Liu Rouxuan pulled her light-gray fur cloak tightly around herself. Smiling brightly, she held Li Tongya's hand and chirped, "Brother Tongya, as soon as spring comes, we'll get married."
"All right," Li Tongya agreed.
Brushing the snow from her shoulders, he chuckled and tilted the umbrella in his hand, shaking off the accumulated snow before shifting it further over Liu Rouxuan.
Mount Lijing was not high. Li Tongya led Liu Rouxuan through the mist settled at the base of the mountain and followed the snow-covered flagstone path straight to the courtyard gate.
Stepping inside the house, they saw Tian Yun wrapped in a fur coat, sitting cheerfully before the brazier, her cheeks flushed with warmth. Spotting the two of them, she called out, "Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law."
Li Tongya responded with a warm smile. Liu Rouxuan, facing this sister-in-law who was five or six years older than herself, showed no bashfulness at all. She drew up near the brazier and immediately began whispering and giggling with Tian Yun.
Li Xiangping had gone down early that morning to cast Spirit Rain over the paddy fields and was currently in the rear courtyard doing his breathing exercises. Taking off his heavy coat and hanging it on the wall, Li Tongya turned to Lady Ren, who was quietly mending clothes nearby, and asked softly, "Where is Father?"
"The elderly tend to sleep in during the winter; he's still in his room," Lady Ren said with a faint smile, glancing up. Seeing Tian Yun waving to her from the brazier, she put aside the sewing in her hands and joined them, asking after Liu Rouxuan with gentle inquiries.
Li Mutian had personally enlarged the skylight yesterday and worked late into the night, so he was still asleep. Li Tongya gazed blankly out the window at the snow blanketing the mountain and silently thought to himself, *If only Eldest Brother were still here... how wonderful that would be.*
***
Winter passed, and spring arrived. The previous year had been prosperous—the spring brought gentle rains without drought, and the autumn remained crisp without flooding. There had been neither hail nor locusts. The land tax had been set across the board at just ten percent, leaving everyone far better off than in years past. Every household had surplus grain to spare, and not a single soul froze to death that winter.
The second batch of spirit rice planted in Lijing Village the year before last had also ripened. Harvesting the crop and milling off the chaff yielded one hundred and seventy jin of polished spirit rice and fifty jin of rice bran. Added to the previous harvest, they now possessed two hundred and ninety jin of polished spirit rice and ninety jin of unhulled grain—more than enough to pay the required two hundred jin of spirit rice in tribute.
With Li Qiuyang and Liu Rouxuan joining their efforts, Li Tongya and Li Xiangping found their burdens greatly eased. Handing over the care of the spirit fields to the pair allowed them to devote more energy to their cultivation.
The Baiyuan fruit tree was also in bloom, its branches laden with pale-pink blossoms. Li Tongya calculated that the fruit would ripen in just a few months, comfortably in time for the arrival of the Qingchi Sect's envoy to collect the tribute.
Li Tongya had just finished casting Spirit Rain when he saw Wan Tiancang walk into the courtyard with a furrowed brow. Approaching Li Tongya, Wan Tiancang began to pour out his grievances:
"Late last night, that Ji Dengqi crossed our border masked and raided several of our Wan family's spirit fields! Nearly nine-tenths of the spirit rice at the foot of the mountain was burned, many mortals were killed, and he even came close to storming Mount Huaqian.
"Fortunately, our patriarch was vigilant, keeping watch throughout the harvest season, and personally took command of the array in time. Ji Dengqi led his men in a siege all night before retreating in bitter frustration at daybreak."
Setting down his teacup, Li Tongya asked with some surprise, "Your esteemed clan's formation is truly formidable to hold off a Qi Refinement cultivator's siege for an entire night."
Wan Tiancang waved his hand and offered a wry smile. "It's merely an expedient trick. Two hundred years ago, a formation master emerged in our Wan family. Taking advantage of a spiritual spring on Mount Huaqian, he constructed that grand array. As long as the spring flows, the formation continually replenishes its spiritual energy."
"What a marvelous formation!" Li Tongya could not help praising, though he privately mused, *The formation on our Mount Lijing pales by comparison. Still, Xiao Yuansi did mention that if we ever found a better array, we could use those formation flags to set it up! If only our family had an inheritance in formations...*
Wan Tiancang cast a subtle glance at Li Tongya. Seeing him lost in thought, he continued, "Unfortunately, that ancestor was proud and arrogant. He rushed into establishing his Dao foundation and ended up falling on Mount Huaqian."
"Establishing a Dao foundation?" A wave of regret washed over Li Tongya, and he said in a solemn voice, "He must have been a senior at the peak of Qi Refinement, then."
"Sigh..." Wan Tiancang let out a long sigh, a trace of yearning creeping into his voice. "That was the most glorious era for our Wan family. We had a full five Qi Refinement cultivators. Yet within a dozen years of that ancestor's death, our family lost three painstakingly developed mountain peaks in succession. Four Qi Refinement cultivators and ten in Embryonic Breathing perished in battle. Had it not been for our connections within the sect, our family would have been wiped out long ago.
"Later, as the elders passed away one by one, our patron in the sect merely ensured the survival of our bloodline and stopped looking after our affairs. Every generation since then has been worse than the last, but at least we managed to endure. Only a decade or so ago, when our patriarch broke through the Yujing Wheel, were we finally able to open a few storage bags left behind by our ancestors. Yet we found only a handful of spirit stones and talismans inside—nothing that could truly turn our fortunes around."
"So that's how it is," Li Tongya sighed deeply. He refilled Wan Tiancang's teacup and offered a few quiet words of comfort as the man kept lamenting.
Taking a sip of tea, Wan Tiancang slammed his palm on the table and declared in fury, "How hateful that Ji family is! Back when our Wan family was locked in endless strife with the Yu family to the north, the Ji clan was nothing more than a petty household caught in the middle, without even a single Qi Refinement cultivator to their name. Now they curry favor on both sides and have grown to such an extent that they've nearly driven us into a corner!"
Glancing at Li Tongya, Wan Tiancang lowered his voice and inquired, "Might I ask about the senior in your family?"
Li Tongya knew Wan Tiancang was referring to Li Mutian and instantly became guarded. Fortunately, he and his brother had coordinated their story long ago. Taking a sip of tea, he replied, "My father ran away from home in his youth and served as a soldier along the Guli Road, following that General Yang in subjugating the Shanyue."
"I have heard some whispers of that," Wan Tiancang said, moving his teacup aside. "General Yang Tianya possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation and led an army eastward against those Shanyue, resulting in heavy casualties." Then he asked, sounding puzzled, "Yet I heard that your father returned as a mortal..."
Li Tongya smiled bitterly and explained, "My father received guidance from an immortal cultivator back home and attained Qi Refinement. Later, during his military campaigns, he chanced upon an opportunity and established an Immortal foundation. As for why his cultivation was subsequently ruined, that is not something fit for public ears."
"Tiancang was presumptuous!" Wan Tiancang cupped his hands in apology, thinking to himself, *He must have established his Immortal foundation at a young age, grown haughty, and offended the scions of some powerful clan. Only those prominent clans, fearless of retaliation, indulge in the farce of crippling someone back to a mortal.* Out loud, he expressed regret: "What a pity, what a pity."
Seeing Li Tongya fall silent, Wan Tiancang gritted his teeth and finally came to the point: "To be frank with you, Brother Li, my visit today is in the hopes of trading our clan's formation inheritance for a talisman capable of slaying Ji Dengqi—one of the peak Qi Refinement or Foundation Establishment level!"
Realization dawned upon Li Tongya, and he thought to himself, *No wonder Wan Tiancang came all the way here to make idle chitchat. So that's the scheme he's been nursing!*
Chapter 44