The rain over Lake Wangyue had fallen for two months. Crystal clear and torrential, the downpour caused the lake to swell rapidly, turning the entire expanse unusually clear. Li Chengliao channeled his magical power and peered down through the rain.
Upon the muddy shore before him, two massive rows of bluestone dikes towered high. As the lake waters surged, inching toward the two nearby towns, Li Xicheng had made a prompt decision in the central hall. In a single night, the bluestone dikes had been raised from the ground.
These waters had gathered from an anomaly of heaven and earth. Though hardly any spiritual treasure, the converging torrents carried tremendous momentum, far beyond what ordinary dikes could hold back. Left unattended, the flood would have inundated the land right to the foot of the mountain.
Several miscellaneous qi cultivators paced atop the dike, seemingly inspecting the formation. Seeing him look their way, they bowed and cupped their hands respectfully one by one. Li Chengliao answered them with genial grace and personally inspected the works.
Given the Li family's strength, erecting a dike was no great challenge, but because it concerned mortal livelihoods, Li Chengliao, as the clan rector, naturally inspected it himself. Although his father, Li Xicheng, was the clan head, Li Chengliao had been tutored since childhood never to be haughty or complacent.
His maternal uncle, An Siwei, stood at his side clutching a spear. The An lineage was exceptional; he had already attained the eighth layer of Qi Refinement, mastered numerous techniques, and possessed formidable strength. Li Chengliao quickly finished his inspection, descended on the wind, and spoke to the cultivators gathering through the rain: "The construction is well in hand. Maintain frequent patrols. If the waters breach this dike and sweep through several towns…"
The old cultivator before him, wearing a bamboo conical hat, hastily cupped his hands. "Young Master, rest assured. The family rules are firmly kept in mind."
Only then did Li Chengliao depart with peace of mind, flying swiftly to the foot of the mountain. Yet his brows remained furrowed, clearly burdened by another worry.
Calculating the time, his wife, Lady Hu, had been pregnant for eleven months now, yet showed no sign of giving birth.
He politely parted ways with An Siwei and entered the rear courtyard. Pushing open the wing room door, he found his wife resting against the couch, looking drowsy and exhausted. Li Chengliao sat beside her. Seeing her pale lips, he could not help but frown slightly.
"Madam… Madam has already drunk plenty of water…" the maidservant reported softly.
Li Chengliao had noticed this long ago. Touching his wife's forehead, he found her entire body burning hot. Looking at her closely, an inexplicable and intense sense of familiarity welled within him. Uneasy, he tucked the blanket over her, then rose and paced the room anxiously.
He strode out of the hall, draped the white robe hanging before the door over his shoulders—a shadow falling over his normally broad, genial features. He took to the wind in haste and circled Mount Qingdu, only then recalling that his Fourth Uncle, Li Xijun, had already entered secluded cultivation.
Gritting his teeth, Li Chengliao had no choice but to turn and fly toward Fu Peak to seek the elders.
Fu Peak was sparse of people. Li Chengliao had kept few servants since his youth and had never cared for such formality. He easily entered the main hall. Just as he stepped before the grand chamber, a sonorous, forceful voice rang out:
"Ning Dingbo sent word that Yuan Tuan was dispatched to the East Sea market. As I see it, the Yuan family is likely…"
The speaker seemed to sense his arrival and stopped abruptly. Li Chengliao hurriedly fell to his knees and said respectfully, "Chengliao pays his respects to both great-grandfathers."
Li Xuanxuan gave a gentle response, bidding Li Chengliao rise. Li Chengliao stood promptly, his eyes meeting that fearsome, renowned senior for the very first time.
Li Xuanxuan nodded, signaling Li Chengliao to step forward, and smiled. "The descendants of the second branch always carry a gentle, steady air. It is truly commendable. This is Zhongfu's great-great-grandson, Li Chengliao."
Li Xuanfeng possessed the most commanding presence and the highest seniority; everyone in the family held him in awe. Li Chengliao's heart pounded nervously as he kept his head bowed, seeing only a pair of boots woven in black and gold while listening to Li Xuanxuan introduce him from above.
To his surprise, those dark gray eyes did not appear ferocious. Instead, they held a touch of warmth as they looked him up and down.
Li Xuanfeng nodded. "Not bad. What is the matter?"
Li Chengliao dared not delay and said in a grave tone, "Junior's wife… is carrying her first child and has been pregnant for eleven months, yet shows no sign of labor. On the contrary, her vitality is waning. I have cast spells to examine her several times, but could discern nothing."
Hearing Li Xuanfeng speak, Li Chengliao was overjoyed. This elder possessed boundless experience and a reputation that spread far and wide, far beyond anyone else in the family. He hastily made his plea.
Li Xuanfeng frowned slightly and said quietly, "Let us go take a look together."
Li Xuanfeng took two strides and descended into the mountain, with Li Chengliao following on the wind. Gazing at the faint wisps of cloud rising above the hall, Li Xuanfeng murmured, "Could it be an anomaly?"
Under his ocular technique, an amber cloud approaching white was rising at the foot of Mount Lijing. The cloud was bright and rounded like a chariot canopy, hovering in midair.
A brilliance of shimmering color rose from the air as the sky turned luminous. Though torrential rain poured down, it seemed to be born directly out of the void itself. Golden light flowed across Li Xuanfeng's eyes as his ocular technique operated.
His hands, clasped behind his back, slowly reached outward, and an exaggerated golden longbow materialized behind him. Li Chengliao sensed something was amiss and looked up at the sky; the thick storm clouds were already gradually parting.
Pondering for a breath, Li Xuanfeng said in a low voice, "First activate the array."
Li Chengliao pinched an incantation, and white-gold brilliance arose from the mountain, descending like a luminous curtain to seal the inner grounds from the outside world. The two stepped inside.
Before the courtyard had stood stone tables and stools, but now an oppressive dark carpet coated the ground. Countless white cicadas, large and small, piled one atop another with no room to step, screeching in piercing unison. Several maidservants lay sprawled unconscious, cicadas crawling in and out of their garments, fluttering their wings as if about to take flight.
Li Xuanfeng took a step forward, and the rustling sounds in the courtyard ceased instantly. Everything before them vanished without a trace, leaving only the unconscious maidservants on the ground. Li Chengliao strode inward while asking in a low voice, "What is happening?"
Li Chengliao was deeply shaken. Li Xuanfeng reached out and caught a white cicada. The moment it landed in his palm, it dissolved into golden-white smoke and dispersed into the air.
"White cicadas vibrating fill the chill courtyard, a kirin beast with jade horns arrives bearing a son… This child bears a karmic mandate!"
Inside the inner chamber, everything was overturned in complete disarray. A beast resembling neither tiger nor wolf lay in the courtyard, bearing two white horns like jade atop its head, holding a wet infant in its jaws.
Li Chengliao quickly untied the white robe from his shoulders and spread it beneath the beast, terrified this creature of unknown origin might loosen its grip and drop the child.
*Crack…*
A crisp sound rang out like shattering colored glaze. The white robe drifted softly to the floor, the beast vanished without a trace, leaving only the infant falling straight into Li Chengliao's arms.
The infant's eyes contained interlocking concentric golden rings—an obscure, solemn expanse of gold that stared straight ahead, inspiring awe.
At this sight, Li Xuanfeng's eyes narrowed, and he demanded in a cold voice, "I am Li Xuanfeng! I wonder which senior has taken rebirth into a junior of my family?!"
The longbow drawn behind him hummed violently, its string vibrating with a piercing shriek. The cups and bowls in the room rattled frantically, as though about to be shredded to pieces by sharp golden qi at any second. Yet the infant merely pursed his lips and did not answer.
Both men gasped. Only Li Xuanfeng stood grim-faced holding the longbow.
He roughly deduced the cultivator's cultivation realm, musing inwardly, *If it were a Shakya cultivator, it wouldn't be this kind of scene. It should be a Daoist cultivator… At most a Violet Palace; it cannot be a Golden Core.*
"As a rule, only Shakya cultivators reincarnate like this. An immortal cultivator wouldn't go so far as to possess an infant. If he grows up without spirit apertures, wouldn't that be seeking his own demise? Furthermore, what need is there to make such a grand spectacle?…"
Li Xuanfeng was well-traveled and knowledgeable, and had heard of instances of reincarnation and possession several times. His lurking fear was that someone might seize a mortal body, pretend to be an innocent child, master all manner of techniques, consume cultivation resources and spiritual medicines, and finally walk away scot-free—a thought that weighed heavily on his mind.
"A reincarnated person's soul is certainly different from an infant's. One sweep of the Immortal Mirror will lay bare his secrets; whatever trump cards or karmic mandate he possesses will be clear at a glance!"
Li Xuanfeng said in a deep voice, "Chengliao, bring him to Mount Qingdu."
After all, this was his own child. Li Chengliao hastily wrapped the infant in the white robe, glancing worriedly at his weak wife on the bed. Turning to the household attendants, he instructed, "I leave this place to you. Watch over her carefully; I must make a trip to Mount Qingdu."
Both men took to the wind and departed. Li Chengliao followed close behind, inwardly on guard.
They touched down, and Li Xuanfeng had Li Chengliao wait outside the ancestral shrine while he strode into the inner room and bowed. "Li disciple Xuanfeng reverently petitions Xuanming to probe the hidden and inspect the subtle, discern profound mysteries, illuminate the eight directions, and apprehend ghosts and inspect spirits…"
A glimmer of clear light surfaced before him, and the azure-and-white mirror descended from the Great Void, hovering slowly before him. Li Xuanfeng sank his spiritual sense into it, sweeping over Li Chengliao and his son waiting in the courtyard outside.
Outside the doors, Li Chengliao had been waiting anxiously for a long time, scrutinizing the child's amber, golden eyes. Meeting his gaze for so long, no matter how he looked, the boy did not seem to harbor an old monster within.
Within the shrine, Xuanfeng saw the infant's spirit platform was pristine and clear, devoid of magical artifacts or seals. It was as tender and fresh as new life, with no heavy, aged decrepitude. Though surging with spiritual vitality, it bore no trace of soul possession or reincarnation.
After checking three times, Li Xuanfeng breathed a sigh of relief. He returned the Immortal Mirror and waited for its light to vanish into the Great Void before rising. A smile surfaced on his face; easing his grip, he strode boldly out of the ancestral shrine.
"Go, Chengliao, call the others over."
Seeing Li Xuanfeng emerge in high spirits, Li Chengliao hurried forward. The veteran warrior let out a hearty laugh, a bright smile on his face. Taking the child into his arms, he examined him with delight and laughed, "All is well! He is a true kirin child!"
"Our family now has a kirin child as well?"
Li Chengliao reluctantly stepped away to summon the family, while Li Xuanfeng examined the child in his arms again and again, growing more pleased by the second. The child neither cried nor fussed, merely gazing at him with golden eyes.
Li Xuanfeng carried him to the seat of honor, studying him closely while pondering in silence.
Before long, people hurried down to the courtyard one after another. Li Ximing arrived first, landing directly in the hall and looking at him with questioning eyes. Li Xuanfeng waved his hand, passing the child to him.
Li Ximing cradled the child and met his gaze. He immediately felt his Huangyuan Pass stir within him, and he could not help but praise, "He truly cultivates Mingyang! To think a child born naturally to cultivate Mingyang has arrived, giving us a proper Li of Wei."
The family had been shrouded in a somber mood for months; it was rare for everyone to feel such joy. Li Ximing looked at the child repeatedly, his whole body relaxing as though a heavy burden had been lifted, leaving him pleasantly dazed.
As the gathered crowd exchanged delighted glances, a surprised, clear voice spoke from the corner: "Do the elders still recall the matter of Xu Xiao?"
Li Xuanfeng raised his brows and looked over to see Li Yuexiang with bright eyes. Her mind was exceptionally sharp, having taken after her mother in full. She looked at Xuanfeng and said, "You were not at home back then; otherwise, such a fellow could never have stirred up any trouble!"
She immediately explained, "Back when we slew that man, my brother said that Xu Xiao's impact on Chengliao was minimal… If not for that, we would have sent him away long ago, and nobody would have noticed anything amiss!"
"Are you saying that because Chengliao was destined to be this child's father… he was granted the power to withstand it?"
"Perhaps he truly bears a karmic mandate."
"White cicadas vibrating fill the chill courtyard, a kirin beast with jade horns arrives bearing a son… That is the manifestation of a karmic mandate."
The entire gathering fell silent, turning the thought over in disbelief. Li Xuanfeng shook his head as well, murmuring, "This matter is hard to say; it is merely a guess! If a karmic mandate possesses such power…"
The rain over Lake Wangyue had fallen continuously for half a year, yet at this very moment, it quietly receded. The dense storm clouds vanished. Though a light drizzle still drifted down, the sun had already emerged, shining warmly upon the earth.
Li Xuanfeng did not speak the rest of his thoughts. Instead, he smiled—a rare sight—and looked around at the child in his arms. "Seeing this child, my heart feels much lighter. I can depart for the Southern Border with peace of mind. Have you prepared a name?"
Li Chengliao had originally considered Li Zhou'an, but now felt that name was somewhat inadequate. He said respectfully, "I ask the elders to bestow a name."
Li Xuanfeng pondered for a breath and said quietly, "Li Zhouwei. Why not… take the character 'Wei'? It matches suitably."
Chapter 475