"This magical artifact of Brother's is somewhat unusual."
Li Qinghong handed the jade bottle over to demonstrate, having already wiped away her magic power and spiritual sense so Li Xuanfeng could channel his into it. The bottle's surface flashed with golden light, spouting a golden, glittering mist that drifted and leaped around Li Xuanfeng's fingertips. He lowered his gaze, studied it for a moment, and replied, "An artifact from the ancient State of Wei, perhaps of the Mingyang path. Let us take it home for the juniors to try; there might be further changes."
The two took flight on the wind. Li Xuanfeng watched the shifting scenery beneath their feet as they crossed the great river. His thoughts had already flown to the lake, and he turned to ask, "I heard my eldest brother was troubled by inner demons, and his Dao heart was none too steady?"
Li Qinghong nodded slightly, having seemingly anticipated his question. Sure enough, Li Xuanfeng pinched his fingers to calculate, then asked again, "Did Eldest Brother have any more children afterward?"
"None," Li Qinghong replied softly. "Eldest Brother's last son died in the grotto-heaven. I fear it caused him unbearable sorrow. He had no further offspring, and those mortal clan brothers passed away earlier as well."
They flew on in silence. As day turned to dusk, they soon reached the lakeside. Torrential rain poured down, and Mount Qingdu stood quietly amidst the downpour. Li Xuanfeng had not returned for many years and possessed no imprint on the ward, so he had Li Qinghong open the great array before they landed together.
Beside the stone steps on the mountain stood a young girl in a white tied dress, with exquisite phoenix eyes. Li Qinghong murmured, "This is Brother's orphaned child."
Li Xuanfeng nodded. Watching Li Qinghong take the young girl's hand, he walked up the somewhat unfamiliar steps alone, saying softly, "I will first go to the ancestral hall and summon everyone."
Once they reached the peak, Li Qinghong reverently handed the Immortal Mirror to Li Xuanfeng. Li Xuanfeng took it with both hands, and the two walked forward together. Li Qinghong understood he needed to return the Immortal Mirror and report their success; she took Li Yuexiang's hand and departed. Li Xuanfeng stepped into the hall, shutting the main doors firmly to seal off the interior from the outside world. He bowed before the row of spirit tablets above, used the Immortal Mirror to confirm no Golden Core cultivator was nearby, and only then pushed open the door to the stone chamber. Placing the blue-grey Immortal Mirror onto the secret altar, he retrieved the jade buckle.
Lu Jiangxian sat in meditation, slowly assimilating the feedback from the talisman seed. Li Yuanjiao's cultivation had not been overwhelmingly deep, but this was the first mid-stage Foundation Establishment talisman seed he had absorbed, far superior to those before.
Lu Jiangxian had always been deeply satisfied and reassured regarding Li Yuanjiao. Li Yuanjiao trading his life for Yu Muxian's had been a veiled, profound calculation—one that not only Lu Jiangxian understood, but even Li Xuanfeng and Xiao Yongling on the scene could sense.
To fulfill that promise to Li Tongya—"Yuanjiao dares not forget"—few could have done better than him.
Lu Jiangxian had examined the jade buckle earlier. Sweeping it with spiritual sense had revealed only ordinary jade. After Yu Muxian's death, it had shown no reaction, neither showing signs of acknowledging a new master nor dimming in the slightest.
Now, Li Xuanfeng held it up with both hands, and the jade buckle slowly began to glow. At last, the jade buckle reacted. From bottom to top, it turned into a streak of white light that plunged into the mirror and vanished. The blue-grey mirror surface suddenly blazed, turning pure white and dazzling. Moon-white mist billowed forth, and bright moonlight washed across the ground. Several osmanthus trees with intricate patterns rose up, clusters of golden-white blossoms hanging down with golden stamens and an enchanting fragrance. From the shadowed corners sprang several moon toads and hares, nimble and endearing. The fragrance of osmanthus drifted.
In an instant, the robes on Lu Jiangxian transformed into resplendent, golden, noble garments. Rings of colored light appeared behind him, while spiritual energy and spiritual flame cascaded like rain, swirling around him. In that breath, the blue-grey Immortal Mirror above flared brilliantly, humming and trembling incessantly as it cast out waves of blinding white light.
He had just been planning his next moves when the gloomy light in the sky finally parted, casting down a shaft of white radiance. Feeling the mirror's power steadily returning, Lu Jiangxian felt a surge of joy, even though his expectations for the jade buckle had been modest. "Not only have I gained three talisman seeds, but the power of the [Taiyin Mysterious Light] has reached the Golden Core level!"
Relying on the feedback channeled from heaven and earth, Lu Jiangxian's eyes sparkled slightly. Though he did not know the exact extent of power at the Golden Core level, based on past experience, a direct strike would likely cause a Golden Core cultivator to perish on the spot.
"'Tongzhen Miaojue'..."
*I remember now.*
The greatest harvest of this venture was truly this *Tongzhen Miaojue*!
Originally titled the *Secret Scripture of Master Liangzhi's Miraculous Art of Observing Radiance, Manifesting Essence, and Perfecting Reality*, it was an immortal art by which ancient cultivators sought nature to obtain mandate, and cultivated reality to attain gold. In Lu Jiangxian's memories, he had already cultivated it to its zenith. The scene in his mind froze, quickly coming to rest upon the diagram from the final moment on that stone wall. Golden characters emerged one after another.
"Seal script..."
The script was unmistakably the lesser seal script from his previous life!
Lu Jiangxian had not seen these characters for more than forty years. Those five words seemed to possess a magic that stirred endless reveries in his heart. What astonished him was not the subsequent doctrinal essentials traced in golden patterns, but those five words themselves. It was not something newly learned or read through, but something welling up from the depths of his memory. Perhaps he had studied this scripture a hundred times, a thousand times; now that comprehension had dawned, every detail came rushing back.
Those golden characters flew out of his mind and leaped from his pupils, hovering within this heaven and earth. Lu Jiangxian sat upright in the center, watching the seal script rotate around him as his eyes gradually brightened. Countless insights surged in his heart, impossible to put into words. Tears of joy welled in his eyes, accompanied by the feeling that he who hears the Dao in the morning may die content in the evening. He murmured under his breath. Joy welled up, and Lu Jiangxian's vision grew crystal clear throughout the mirror realm. He wondered if any similar relics remained in this world; a single glance had yielded something so profoundly rich!
Opening his eyes slowly, Lu Jiangxian's temperament had become completely transformed. Reaching out with palm upturned, the light-cone-like golden nature emerged smoothly.
With a gentle wave of his hand, he retrieved an object from the table. It was a golden jade slip with intricate striations, inscribed with tiny characters:
*Scripture of Minghua Huangyuan*.
This was the Grade Seven Golden Core cultivation method he had spent many years compiling, drawing reference from this strand of golden nature and numerous other techniques. Now that he had obtained the immortal art, he made a meticulous deduction and found no significant flaws; it was remarkably complete, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Golden and clear like fine dust, the [Xiayang Radiant Flame], the explosively dancing [Sanyang Brilliance], and the [Jinyang Huangyuan] coursing along the patterns of his robes... various spiritual materials of the golden nature manifested beside him, fading, flourishing, blending, and sublimating.
"So this is what the Purple Palace truly is! Nature and life intersect; the Purple Palace and the karmic mandate are originally one!"
Gazing down at the mote of golden nature floating in his hand, Lu Jiangxian bowed his head slightly. Though the immortal art had granted him a profound, abstruse comprehension of the Purple Palace and the karmic mandate, he still understood little about fruit positions and could only make conjectures. This strand of golden nature in his grasp was now worlds apart from before. Casting aside its former stillness, it circled his palm with immense affinity. He interlocked his index and middle fingers and tapped lightly with his thumb, causing the golden nature before him to blaze with blinding light.
By comparison, Lu Jiangxian before had been like a toddler clutching a Foundation Establishment magical artifact without knowing how to use it, perhaps only able to crack walnuts with it. Now, however, he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator proficient in all manner of spells. Not only could he unleash the multifaceted wonders of this golden nature, but by stirring its connections, he could also perceive much of what was unfolding in the mortal world!
His gaze remained fixed upon the golden nature before him. With a subtle thought, the golden nature shifted, transforming into a band of radiance that projected a face. The golden nature had been passed down for untold years, and the first to manifest was still its initial master. The face appeared resolute and valiant, with a high nose bridge and slightly deep-set eye sockets, radiating an imposing, noble masculine aura—not brutish or savage, but an intoxicating, spirited demeanor.
Then it slowly morphed into a somewhat gaunt, fair-skinned young man, before flickering rapidly. Faces alternated in swift succession, all ancient cultivators who had interacted with the golden nature in ages past. Finally, it slowed to a halt, stopping upon the face of a youthful young man. His eyebrows were level and broad, his pupils glowing golden within the shadows of his nose bridge, lent a touch of domineering ruthlessness.
Lu Jiangxian studied the face intently, observing the space between the brows and the nose bridge. Gradually, the face before him overlapped with that earlier countenance...
"Chu Yi."
Lu Jiangxian froze, blurting out:
"Wei Taizu Li Qianyuan!"
Chu Yi was Li Qianyuan's reincarnation! How could that be! How could Mount Luoxia...
Lu Jiangxian fell silent for a moment. The scenes from the grotto-heaven surfaced rapidly in his mind, streaming past like moving pictures: watching Li Xuanfeng touch the Three Drums Wall, enter the illusion, and select a cultivation technique to memorize... The vision froze, halting on the diagram from the stone wall's final moments as lines of golden characters slowly appeared:
*Minghua Huangyang Yujiaoxing...*
He gently formed a hand seal. The golden nature flowed, connecting very covertly through the Great Void. Lu Jiangxian murmured in a low voice:
"Mount Luoxia... how ruthless Mount Luoxia is!"
His expression shifted, his gaze staring fixedly ahead. "On the surface, it appears to compensate the various sects. But considering their consistent practice of sealing off cultivation techniques and my earlier deductions, this is by no means simple! In other words... Mount Luoxia wants to see golden nature cultivators emerge across the lands, which likely serves their grand design... Once their control over the Mingyang fruit position reached a certain threshold, they brought down the Cui clan's Donghuo Grotto-Heaven, causing a vast number of golden nature lineages to surface both within the seas and beyond... Why would they deliberately let these inheritances leak out? Who could have known... who could have known that behind this, Wu, Yue, and Zhao are merely a chessboard, used to defile the Mingyang fruit position time and time again... Most likely, multiple True Monarchs watch from the Great Void on every occasion!"
"Everyone thought Chu Yi was favored by destiny, invincible... Everyone envied him wandering the mortal world and returning north to Luoxia, thinking the True Monarch was simply dallying among mortals... No wonder Chu Yi possessed such invincible destiny, and even the fortunate few brushed by the dispersing mandate when the golden nature descended were formidable! It was done precisely to wear down his karmic mandate and divine abilities to the utmost limit!!"
"The True Monarchs of Mount Luoxia wish to seize the golden nature. Yet Mingyang is nearly immortal in this world, able to reincarnate endlessly. The only way they could ever hope to ascend to the fruit position is to make Li Qianyuan die in reincarnation over and over, allowing him to rise from the dust time and again, thereby eroding his mandate and divine abilities turn after turn! Yet something went wrong with Li Qianyuan; he has lost his memories, never once recalling his past across all his reincarnations, falling into Mount Luoxia's grasp time and again..."
Lu Jiangxian's words came to an abrupt halt. He shifted his hand seal, and the golden nature flickered once more. He observed it carefully: over the past millennium, Li Qianyuan had reincarnated eighteen times in total.
"No wonder Mingyang reincarnates with the mandate upon him... So when the golden nature is stirred, the karmic mandate forms of its own accord!"
Lu Jiangxian had long judged that the Mingyang fruit position had an owner, yet had not known that this person was still Li Qianyuan. Thinking back now, as perhaps the first emperor to attain the golden nature, Li Qianyuan had forged an unprecedented centralized feudal Great Wei. In all his actions, viewed from Lu Jiangxian's current attainments, so long as he was alive, no one else could ever lay a finger on the Mingyang fruit position.
The golden nature in his hand slowly reverted to its original light-cone shape, hovering quietly in Lu Jiangxian's palm. He sat back onto the stone stool, his expression grim as he muttered, "It truly is Chu Yi!"
Lu Jiangxian let out a long breath, his thoughts instantly connecting to the fall of the Donghuo Grotto-Heaven. In the next moment, he suddenly recalled the sight of the five True Monarchs encircling the Qingsong Daoist Temple. A heavy oppression weighed on his chest, and he exhaled deeply, suppressing the unease within as he comforted himself: "I have already chosen the golden nature, and with it in my grasp, I have already come this far. Since the golden nature descends, the mandate scatters, and children of destiny arise generation after generation, why should my Li family not have its turn?"
Lu Jiangxian was nearly certain that with these immortal arts, even if he allowed this golden nature to enter the world, no one could wrest it from his hands unless the true master of the Mingyang fruit position arrived in person!
"Cautious... I must still be cautious. Though this golden nature allows me to become a chess player in this realm, I am still on their ground. I must proceed slowly. The [Taiyin Mysterious Light] certainly cannot be used casually."
Having put everything in order, a bold thought welled up in Lu Jiangxian's heart. Sweeping his gaze downward, his divine sense surged forth, swiftly passing across the whole of Lake Wangyue. Pausing briefly over several direct descendants of the Li clan, Lu Jiangxian did not find what he was seeking until his senses reached the small town. There, he saw a young man standing in the courtyard with an imposing air, looking gently upon the person beside him.
The young man had broad eyebrows and an open, noble bearing, clad in a brocade robe with a gentle smile—it was none other than Li Chengliao! Li Chengliao had conducted himself with great tact and propriety during the incident with Xu Xiao, earning the praise of the elders. Riding high on success of late, he had recently taken a new wife and broken through to Qi Refinement, standing at the proudest moment of his life.
Yet Lu Jiangxian's divine sense did not linger upon him; sweeping lightly past, it settled instead upon the person beside him.
Beside him sat a gentle woman with a sweet smile. Though her looks could not compare to Liu Lingzhen's, her demeanor was natural and dignified, her eyes bright, gently cradling her lower abdomen. With a stir of Lu Jiangxian's divine sense, he could easily detect the unborn child in her womb.
The figures emerged from the secret chamber. Clad in black-gold armor, Li Xuanfeng walked at the front and took the seat of honor above, while the others stood to either side. Sitting upright, he asked:
"Did any of you attain any insights?"
All nodded. From the recent ripple, insights had surfaced from their talisman seeds, and the colors of the talisman seeds within their seas of qi had grown distinctly brighter...
Chapter 472