Li Xijun settled the family's affairs and reviewed all that had transpired during his period of seclusion. By and large, no major problems had arisen. The family's income had tightened slightly due to the growing number of cultivators, but it was merely a shortfall of one or two spirit stones—hardly an issue.
"Not bad... Brother Xicheng manages the household with increasing stability."
Li Xijun praised. Standing to the side of the hall was Chen Donghe, clad in jade armor with a full head of white hair. He had lingered at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement for many years; though his sword arts had grown increasingly profound, he lacked the confidence to attempt a breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, so he spent most of his time attending to clan affairs.
The former head of the Jade Court Guard, Chen Mufeng, had been demoted, and old Chen Donghe had taken over the guard. Across the entire clan, high and low, only he possessed the prestige and capability to do so. After looking over the reports, Li Xijun suddenly asked, "Has Mount Wutu taken in any more women?"
Li Xijun had been in seclusion for some time and did not know how Li Ximing's progress was coming along. Seeing no mention of it anywhere, he casually inquired. Chen Donghe replied, "Mount Wutu sent all the former women down the mountain, and in all these years, no one else has been permitted up. Even Lady An has only visited Mount Wutu a handful of times."
Li Xijun was surprised, thinking to himself, 'This Brother Ming! How has he changed his ways so thoroughly?'
Dismissing the old man, he rode the wind into the air and descended toward Mount Wutu.
The fire vein of Mount Wutu had existed for more than a decade and had gradually stabilized. Day and night, it spewed earthfire evil aura, transforming the entire mountain. The vegetation had grown sparse, birds wheeled above jagged rocks, and the climate was oppressively stifling.
Li Xijun parted the warding array and landed atop the peak. A magnificent palace of jade towers and golden pavilions gleamed under flowing golden light. Before the white jade steps stood two guards, silent and motionless.
"Greetings, Clan Uncle."
Both were collateral junior relatives who had grown up in the cave dwelling. Lacking talent, they had cultivated the Court-Knocking Palace Guard Incantation early on, breaking through rapidly to Qi Refinement only to halt their progress thereafter.
The two bowed respectfully, and Li Xijun asked, "Is Ximing refining pills?"
One of them went down to inquire and soon returned, saying with a bow, "The elder is already waiting in the hall."
Li Xijun nodded, stepped inside, and walked through several winding corridors into the main hall.
In contrast to the gold-carved and jade-inlaid exterior of the courtyard, the hall was decorated rather simply and elegantly, adorned with only a few pots of orchids. Looking even younger than Li Xijun, Li Ximing sat in the hall dressed in golden robes, cradling a small jade furnace in his hands.
Li Xijun sat down before him, and Li Ximing smiled. "You're here, Xijun. I was just pondering the principles of medicine."
Li Xijun looked closely and noticed that the jade furnace in his hands was actually a magical instrument, inside of which a spiritual herb was currently being baked, seemingly in preparation for pill refinement.
"I see."
All the way up, Li Xijun had felt the surroundings were quiet and deserted, seeing few pleasure pavilions and instead mostly storage facilities for various spirit herbs. He nodded slightly and praised, "I thought this place would still be full of chattering songbirds and swallows. Who would have thought it had become such a fine place for cultivation?"
Hearing Li Xijun's words, Li Ximing looked rather helpless and said softly, "Since I broke through to Foundation Establishment, that matter has ceased to be of any benefit unless my partner also possesses Foundation Establishment cultivation... Otherwise, it is entirely useless... And since it serves no purpose, I can't be bothered to waste time on it."
"No wonder."
Li Xijun understood. His eyes scanned the hall's decor, and he wiped his hands with a piece of white cloth on the table before asking, "How are those pills coming along?"
Li Ximing was already prepared. He took a small white jade bottle from his robes and placed it on the desk, saying softly, "The Three Completes Realm-Breaking Spiritual Pill aids Qi Refinement cultivators in making breakthroughs. I specifically refined this bottle first so you could take it and put it to use. There are six pills inside. If you cannot use them all, the rest can be distributed to the clansmen at home."
Years ago, the pill recipes Li Xizhi had sent home were the Three Completes Realm-Breaking Pill and the Two Solutions to the Spirit-Saving Pill. Both kinds of pills were exceedingly difficult to refine and held immense value, with the Three Completes Realm-Breaking Pill having two grades: Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment.
Li Xijun nodded and accepted it. Li Ximing then brought out an azure jade bottle and said, "This is the Three Completes Realm-Breaking Profound Pill, which can aid Foundation Establishment cultivators in making breakthroughs. I barely managed to refine this single pill."
Li Xijun paused, then said softly, "Keep it for yourself. How much did it cost?"
Li Ximing answered with a touch of embarrassment, "The spiritual materials needed for these pills are all quite precious. The Qi Refinement-grade spiritual pills cost nineteen spirit stones all told. As for this Foundation Establishment profound pill, my luck was good—I managed to succeed on my very first attempt by sheer fortune... but it still cost nearly thirty spirit stones...
"As for the Two Solutions to the Spirit-Saving Pill, the difficulty is higher still. More than a dozen spirit stones went down the drain, and I haven't even been able to refine the simpler version, let alone..."
Such was the path of pill refinement: the initial investment for every new recipe was enormous. In the past, Xiao Yuansi had selflessly instructed him, making things far easier; now that he had to research on his own, the expenses naturally mounted.
Li Xijun felt a twinge of heartache at the cost, yet he still nodded in encouragement. "To succeed on your very first attempt is already quite an achievement. There will be plenty of opportunities down the line."
Reminded of this, Li Xijun remarked, "Senior Xiao Yuansi treated you very well and imparted his knowledge selflessly all those years ago. Do you still keep that in mind? Now that you have achieved Foundation Establishment, by both emotion and propriety, you ought to pay him a visit..."
Li Ximing, whose thoughts were still lingering on the solution to that pill recipe, was jolted awake by the reminder. He nodded repeatedly. "You're right, quite right! I actually forgot about this and nearly fell into ingratitude! Let me gather my things, and I will head over to the Xiao family at once."
Li Xijun nodded and shared the news from recent years. Then, producing two jade bottles—one large and one small—from his robes, he said, "While you were in seclusion, Aunt returned from overseas and brought back a portion of Yuwa Stone Fluid and three Xuanmin Pills. Both are precious treasures that only core lineages of immortal sects can afford."
With visible delight, Li Ximing said, "I don't know why, but ever since I reached Foundation Establishment, my cultivation speed has only grown faster and faster. With these items, and by taking the profound pill as well... it will be even quicker."
Li Xijun smiled and offered his congratulations, his mood lifting considerably. After chatting for a few more moments, he soon took his leave.
Li Ximing cradled the jade furnace, examined it, and calculated the time. Not daring to delay, he immediately rode the wind out of Mount Wutu and flew toward the Xiao family.
……
Eastern Sea, Qunyi Straits.
The dark clouds over the Eastern Sea, having gathered for several years, were finally beginning to disperse. Aside from more frequent thunderstorms and overcast skies across the various seas, most of the waters were at last clearing up, turning bright and sunny.
The Qunyi Straits wound in an unbroken chain. Aside from Lizhou in the deep sea, this was the only area with a relatively dense population. Several long, narrow islands stretched one after another in an unbroken expanse amid surging ocean currents.
The bright sky was gradually darkening as storm clouds gathered. Two streaks of magical light flew in from the north and landed on a small island.
The foremost golden light revealed an armored, robed middle-aged man standing with his hands behind his back. The purple light slowly settled to reveal a spear-wielding female cultivator clad in jade armor, lightning crackling underfoot. Pausing in midair for a moment, she looked toward the dark clouds.
"Second Uncle, there really are dark clouds. Perhaps we will hit the mark this time!"
This female cultivator was none other than Li Qinghong. Holding the Duruo Spear, her aura had already reached mid Foundation Establishment. The purple lightning roiling endlessly beneath her feet illuminated the mountaintop below with a brilliant purple glow.
Across the Eastern Sea, "water falls and thunder ascends" had grown exceptionally intense over the past few years, and most lightning-method cultivators had made great progress. Li Qinghong had seized the opportunity to enter secluded cultivation, smoothly breaking through to mid Foundation Establishment and growing significantly in strength.
Several years had slipped by in seclusion. Her elder brother Li Yuanjiao had yet to emerge, and Li Xuanfeng was patrolling across the Eastern Sea. Li Qinghong had returned home to divine news of thunder, and upon receiving word, she came out to roam the Eastern Sea in search of spiritual lightning.
Li Xuanfeng fixed his gaze on the lightning flashing within the storm clouds and nodded slightly. "In the Eastern Sea, 'water falls and thunder ascends,' and many kinds of lightning are descending one after another. Word has it that several types of spiritual lightning have already appeared in the markets, which can be put to good use by your formula."
"Indeed."
Black clouds billowed and converged over the island as thunder roared. The island's natives looked up and prostrated themselves incessantly. Li Qinghong cast a brief glance at them, paying them no mind.
This place was remote, lying on the very fringes of the Eastern Sea. The crowd of natives chattered in unintelligible gibberish, speaking no language of the mainland seas. They knelt in droves. One or two holding staves appeared to be priests; possessing some cultivation, they understood the overwhelming pressure of Foundation Establishment all the better, sticking their rears in the air as they trembled in terror.
Li Qinghong waited a few moments. Slowly, a bright white lightning bolt, undulating like a serpent, condensed within the clouds. It circled once, restless and agitated, leaping gently within the dark cloud cover.
"It truly is the Silver Hook Mysterious Thunder."
Through secret arts, Li Qinghong had obtained information on many kinds of lightning. Not counting those missed during her seclusion, she had made five or six journeys back and forth afterward, yet had consistently come away empty-handed.
'Fortunately, these islands are cut off from the world and have remained unchanged for thousands of years, so their names have been preserved fairly well.'
The information Li Qinghong received indicated that the Silver Hook Mysterious Thunder would fall upon Lülai Island in the Qunyi Sea. After searching through the Qunyi Straits, she reckoned this Lulai Island was likely the one.
Watching the dark clouds gather and the silvery-white lightning bob within them, Li Qinghong felt a surge of joy. She rose on the wind, waited a few breaths, and hooked a slender finger in the air.
Rumble!
The silvery-white bolt had already been hovering restlessly in the cloud layer; now, as if drawn by some irresistible pull, it plummeted down and slammed onto her fingertip with a deafening crash, transforming into a violently flashing arc of white lightning.
The scattered remnants of lightning left behind in the clouds showered down like swallows returning to their nest, compressing and gathering at her fingertip into a tiny, silvery-white bead.
Li Qinghong pressed her palms together, breathed slowly in midair for a moment, and drew it into her thunder pool. With the lightning gone, the dark clouds in the sky instantly dispersed into thin air. In fine spirits, Li Qinghong nodded to Li Xuanfeng and took to the wind.
Once they left the straits, Li Xuanfeng came to a halt and said softly, "No rush just yet. Allow me to search around here."
Li Qinghong nodded in understanding. The two circled around on the wind. Li Xuanfeng's gaze swept about casually when suddenly, the golden bow on his back flared brightly with light. A look of satisfaction crossed his face, and he sneered coldly, "Just as I thought... that vile beast is still hiding in the sea."
Every time Li Xuanfeng ventured out with her in search of lightning, he scrutinized every place they passed, hoping to ferret out Ewu. Li Qinghong felt an immediate surge of excitement upon hearing this. She saw Li Xuanfeng nock an arrow to his bow, and spiral bands of bright light rose from the longbow in his grip.
"Strike!"
The dark arrow in his hand vanished from sight. On an island not far away, a tremendous roar suddenly erupted. Li Xuanfeng slung his longbow back, stepped onto his golden shuttle, and descended.
……
Changzhou Island.
Changzhou Island was long and narrow, crisscrossed by numerous rivers and dotted with densely clustered dwellings. Many monks drove mortals to haul all manner of stone and timber up toward the highest mountain.
Atop the peak stood over a dozen temples of varying sizes. The largest among them was magnificent and gilded, its winding corridors linked together, while several lotus flowers drifted in the clear waters of a lake.
Inside the main hall, gloomy and pitch-black, over a hundred stone statues in various postures were carved into the rear wall. A jade platform rose in the center, beneath which blood boiled and bubbled. Upon the platform rested only half a torso, its skin continuously splitting open and stitching itself back together as it absorbed the bloody waters below, looking gruesome and terrifying.
Ewu sat cross-legged atop the high jade platform, motionless in cultivation. Below the platform was a pool of blood several zhang wide, bubbling noisily and sending up streams of polychromatic light that coalesced into various apparitions in the air.
Some manifested as beautiful women and fine wine, others as pavilions and towers, swirling and roaming around him. Monks clad in black garments lined up in two neat, orderly rows on either side, waiting respectfully beside him.
Ewu let out a breath, looking somewhat irritable. "This truly is no good place... so far from Jiangnan... not only is the population sparse and slow to grow, but there are also so many earth-nurtured ones, a total waste..."
Back then, he had fled desperately across the sea before finally finding this place to settle down. He had carried out a bloody massacre on the island to stabilize his cultivation and soon erected temples.
Ewu's current strength simply did not permit him to engage in further combat. Earth-nurtured ones were utterly tasteless to consume, so he proclaimed that earth-nurtured ones possessed true Dao bodies while mortal flesh was sinful. He rapidly brought the island under his control and fabricated a cadre of earth-nurtured monks to provide him with blood food.
Having roamed overseas for quite some time, he was well practiced in such tricks and quickly established a complete system on the island, feeding on the blood and flesh of mortals.
Yet what frustrated him greatly was that this island was desolate and remote, with shallow spiritual energy. The inhabitants were mostly mortals, and the blood food they provided was barely enough to preserve his life; healing his wounds or flying away from here to reach the Western Sea was next to impossible.
'I can only scrape by slowly, converting a few underlings to gather blood food for me from the surrounding islands...'
Ewu had already recovered swiftly from his initial despair. As long as there were people on the island, he held hope of restoring his power. After all, mortals were far easier to raise than any spiritual treasure, and remarkably effective to boot—practically a cost-free trade.
As these thoughts crossed his mind, a bone-chilling dread seized him without warning. In his ears seemed to rise that soul-shattering drone:
Buzz... Buzz...
'How can this be!'
Ewu froze. The terrifying whistling scream that had dominated his nightmares day and night welled up in his heart once more. The monk's torso jerked twice atop the jade platform as blood streamed from both ears, and he muttered, "He's here!"
The bloody water beneath him boiled violently, surging up along the jade platform, but it was far too late. Amid a thunderous roar, the jade platform shattered clean in two with overwhelming force, sending up waves of polychromatic light.
"Master!"
The monks on both sides coughed up blood in unison. All the statues within the great hall shattered simultaneously, stone dust cascading down like rain. With a delayed, agonized groan, the grand hall collapsed into ruins.
Almost simultaneously, numerous stone statues in various parts of Qinling Commandery to the north burst apart as well. Across the Heshui Sea and the Zhulu Sea, monks looked up in sheer terror, exclaiming:
"Second Senior Brother has fallen as well!"
Chapter 452