Along the northern foothills of Mount Dali, the spiritual aura was gradually reviving, and monsters grew increasingly numerous alongside it. Li Tongya had been gone for merely two months when a bear monster appeared at Lidaokou. Fortunately, it only possessed cultivation at the Xuanjing Wheel. Li Xiangping was just one step away from breaking through to the Qingyuan Wheel; gathering the village guards, he drew his bow and shot forth several streaks of golden light, cleanly dispatching the beast.
On one hand, he had to organize men to haul the monster off to the Wan family and resell it to Wan Xiaohua; on the other, he had to plan the reconstruction of the streets wrecked by the beast. Li Xiangping was swamped with work and had not returned to Mount Lijing for several days.
His mother, Lady Liu, along with Tian Yun and Lady Ren, tended to young Xuanfeng and Jingtian in the main courtyard. Li Xuanxuan had forged his Xuanjing Wheel and had joyfully descended the mountain a few days earlier to hunt monsters with his Third Uncle, once again leaving Li Mutian alone in the backyard.
The old man could never sit idle. He had built himself a set of furniture and placed it outside the room housing the stone pedestal. During ordinary days, he would keep watch by the doorway, gazing at the biting spring wind swirling through the courtyard.
Li Mutian was nearly seventy. The aches and old wounds from his youth constantly flared up in his body. Farming folk grew up fast and aged just as quickly; now his hair and beard were completely white, and his vigor was nothing like what it used to be. Sitting in the courtyard, he still worried over his two children away from home and pondered family affairs.
"Xiangping and Tongya both give me peace of mind, and they can bring prosperity to our Li family. But Jing'er is ten thousand li away from home. The depths of that immortal sect are unknown, and he has no one to back him up. I wonder how he fares these days."
The old man stroked his snow-white beard, turned his head to look toward the mirror atop the stone pedestal, and murmured to himself, "All prosper together, all fall together."
***
Guanyun Peak of the Xiao family was cloaked in clouds and mist. The pale white haze concealed the small courtyards entirely; rumor had it that not even spiritual sense could penetrate it. Li Tongya and Wan Yuankai followed the Xiao family servant ahead for a while before arriving at a level plateau at the mountain summit.
"Judging by our pace, this Guanyun Peak isn't much taller than Mount Lijing."
Li Tongya pondered to himself. He saw a large compound perched atop the summit, where a crowd of roughly thirty or forty people stood in the courtyard. Clad in fine brocades and resplendent robes, they murmured among themselves in twos and threes. Everyone stood, save for an elderly man sitting leisurely at the seat of honor, eyes downcast as he read a book.
"That elder is the Xiao clan's ancestor, Xiao Chuting. He is a genuine Foundation Establishment senior!"
Hearing Wan Yuankai's quiet words, Li Tongya hurriedly pulled his gaze away from the man, terrified of inadvertently causing offense.
"Senior Xiao is quite a legendary figure. Over a hundred years ago, the Xiao family was merely at the bottom of the commandery's ranks. To make matters worse, their clan head at the peak of Qi Refinement went out and was killed by monsters. Appointed in the hour of peril, Senior Xiao turned the tide. With his peerless alchemy skills, he held the Xiao family together by sheer force of will, and not long after, he forged an immortal foundation, elevating the Xiao family to prominent-clan status."
As Wan Yuankai scanned the people in the courtyard, he explained in hushed tones. Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he stepped forward several paces, saying respectfully, "Brother Lu! What a long time it has been! How have you been of late?"
Draped in a mineral-blue kesi-silk cloak, the man had a broad forehead and what should have been an honest face, yet it was filled with arrogance. He furrowed his brows, looked at Wan Yuankai, and said, "Mm, so it is Brother Yuankai."
Wan Yuankai froze for a moment, chuckling blankly. Noticing a gray brocade pouch hanging at the man's waist, astonishment instantly surged in his heart. He thought to himself, Is the Lu family this wealthy now? To be able to equip him with a storage bag, could it be...?
Wan Yuankai's expression changed abruptly, and he blurted out, "Fellow Daoist, have you already broken through to Qi Refinement?"
"Indeed. The clan still had a portion of Xiaoqing spirit qi."
The man nodded slightly and cast a casual glance at the people around them. Seeing everyone turning to look, he could not help lifting his chin.
"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist." Wan Yuankai's face paled slightly as he offered a low congratulation. "In that case, your esteemed clan now has two Qi Refinement cultivators."
After exchanging a few more words with the cultivator surnamed Lu and seeing how cold and dismissive he was, Wan Yuankai returned with an unsightly expression.
Li Tongya knew of this Lu family. Past the Wan family's territory on the road lay the Lu family. Wan Yuankai had mentioned before that the Lu family possessed a Qi Refinement cultivator, his tone dripping with envy at the time.
"How did the Lu family produce another Qi Refinement cultivator?!" Wan Yuankai grumbled beside Li Tongya, smiling bitterly. "This Lu Pingyuan once visited our Wan family and contributed some resources to help us defend against the Ji family. Back then, he was only at the Yujing Wheel, yet now he has reached Qi Refinement!"
"This Xiaoqing spirit qi..."
"They make it sound fancy! It's nothing more than refining ordinary spirit qi gathered from the mountains. Practicing diligent respiration for seven or eight years will do the trick—it can only be considered common goods! Eight out of ten Qi Refinement cultivators use Xiaoqing spirit qi!"
Disdain dripped from Wan Yuankai's words, as though venting all the indignity he had just endured, yet deep down he was plainly envious to death.
As the two spoke in low voices, a brilliant rosy light slowly rose from the east. The cultivators around them looked up one after another, talking in twos and threes.
"What grand spectacle!"
"Is that the Rosy Dawn Cloud Vessel?"
The rosy glow from the east drew near and revealed its true form: a cloud vessel bathed in golden dawnlight, flanked by a pair of mist-like wings. Parting layer upon layer of clouds, it docked atop the mountain in mere moments.
"Respectfully welcoming the emissary of the immortal sect!"
The cultivators atop the peak bowed in greeting one after another; even Xiao Chuting rose to welcome them.
Several streaks of cyan light drifted down from the Rosy Dawn Cloud Vessel onto the summit, revealing a woman clad in a jade-green dress draped with a navy cloak. A veil obscured her features, leaving her face indistinct. Behind her followed several immortal sect servants dressed in plain cyan robes.
Xiao Chuting stepped forward and smiled. "Greetings, Emissary."
"Senior need not be so courteous!"
The fairy's voice was clear, melodic, and gentle, instantly conveying an air of nobility.
"Then this old man will delay no further. These are the Xiao family's tributes for this year."
Xiao Chuting gave a low laugh and waved his hand. Below, the Xiao clansmen hurried to carry items into the front courtyard. Sacks filled with spirit rice were piled into the yard, appearing to weigh several thousand jin, alongside a dozen crates of various spiritual materials, all opened for display.
"Five thousand jin of purple jade spirit rice are all here. The commandery's various spiritual materials have also been fully apportioned according to previous years' quotas. Fairy may inspect them at your leisure."
"No need. I still trust the Xiao family's credibility," Ning Wan said softly with a shake of her head.
Xiao Chuting cupped his hands, and the people below immediately hoisted the spiritual materials and spirit rice to carry them aboard the vessel. An ordinary storage bag naturally could not hold five or six thousand jin of goods, which was why the Rosy Dawn Cloud Vessel had to be dispatched.
The various families below quickly followed suit, handing over their tributes to the immortal sect servants and announcing their names one by one.
"Junnan Wu family!"
"Tiaoyun Lu family!"
...
"Huaqian Wan family!"
"Lijing Li family!"
Wan Yuankai and Li Tongya went forward together to hand their tributes to the servant. The Li family's tribute this year consisted of ten Baiyuan fruits and two hundred jin of spirit rice. Looking at the remaining ninety jin of spirit rice and five Baiyuan fruits, Li Tongya felt a pang of heartache, when suddenly a clear, melodious voice sounded by his ear:
"Are you from that Lijing Li family?"
Chapter 49