Chi Zhiyun spoke with harsh severity, berating Chi Zhiyan into silent deference. He paced back and forth on the jade platform twice, frustration gnawing at his heart. Beside him, Ning Hejing looked somber and spoke up:
"Since we've already offended him, Li Xizhi surely harbors resentment in his heart. Even if he dies, Li Xuanfeng will certainly investigate. If he finds anything, they will hate us all the more."
"Better to finish it in one go—wipe out the Li clan entirely, tear down Lake Wangyue, and eliminate Li Xuanfeng as well..."
Chi Zhiyun pressed a hand against his jade seat and fell into thought. His broad brows arched slightly, his pristine white robe draping over the silver immortal throne. Still carrying some irritation in his chest, he said in a low voice:
"If we really kill Li Xuanfeng, wouldn't all our previous elaborate preparations have been for nothing?! Tearing down Lake Wangyue sounds well and good, but once we tear off all pretense with the Xiuyue Sect, who will serve as our vanguard? Who will hold off the Buddhist cultivators marching south?"
"Of the thirty-six peaks, nineteen must guard the Four Seas, six are dispersed among the market towns, and of the remaining eleven, we still have to be wary of True Person Yuanxiu, leaving only six available. When the time comes, who will be sent to resist the demonic and Buddhist cultivators?"
His words came faster and faster, his demeanor turning rather fierce. Glaring coldly at Ning Hejing, he asked:
"Send you?"
Ning Hejing naturally lowered his gaze and shook his head. Though he held considerable influence within the sect, his aptitude was mediocre, and reaching Foundation Establishment had already stretched his limits. How could he possibly handle such tasks? He could only shake his head.
Chi Zhiyun turned again, asking Chi Zhiyan:
"Then send you?"
Chi Zhiyan was equally silent. He harbored ambitions of reaching the Violet Palace and was already pressed for time in his cultivation; how could he step forward to fight to the death? Chi Zhiyun sneered coldly.
"Little brother was rash... but... if I may speak bluntly, how much responsibility truly lies with us for the current predicament! Isn't it all because the Old Ancestor..."
Chi Zhiyun glared daggers at him and retorted:
"Or should we dispatch a few elders from the clan? Who among us can order them around? Or perhaps send those brothers of ours? If they get injured, not only will there be no end to the grievances, but those uncles will open their mouths wide like hungry lions!"
"Or should we send the Yu family? Ever since Yu Yuxie was devoured by the Old Ancestor, the entire Yu family has scattered into shambles. Where are there any capable hands left? Or should we send the Yuan family? Yuan Tuan and Yuan Chengdun were ruined by you lot!"
Flayed by this barrage of questions, Chi Zhiyan lost all face. Left with nothing to say, he could only offer:
"Then let's find a scapegoat..."
Chi Zhiyun said, "The dragonkind have always detested us, and those squatting around Leiyun Temple are the descendants of the Dragon Monarch. How can we act so recklessly? Brother Yan is thinking far too naively... If we offend the Dragon Monarch, we'll only bring disaster upon our own heads!"
"It's a pity Yu Muxian died... leaving only Tang Shedu and Yu Su..."
"Only the Gu family neighboring Jiacuan has a few talents, and picking one or two more from Linhai Commandery... how could that ever be enough?!"
Yuansu had seized the Southern Border again; although it might fall back into their hands alongside the Ning family within a few years, Chi Zhiyun found it utterly vexing. He asked in a low voice:
"At this critical juncture... Xizhi is not on his peak... The people from the sect only answered that he went to visit the Han family... But to visit the Han family at such a time, could something have gone wrong?"
"You deliberately sent him to look for Yuan Tuan... he most likely had no way out alive..."
At this thought, Chi Zhiyun could no longer sit still. He swiftly picked up jade slips from the table, mobilized several people from the sect, and dispatched them to search for traces.
The two nodded repeatedly and retreated in haste. Only then did Chi Zhiyun slowly sit back down, covering his forehead with one hand and closing his eyes, seemingly recalling other matters.
When truly counted, there were not many people in the Qingchi Sect who could genuinely be deployed. True Person Yuanxiu cultivated in aloof isolation, obstinate in nature and keeping to his own circle; Chi Zhiyun had never dared summon him.
***
Zongquan Island.
Li Xizhi remained in seclusion for several days. Sinking his spiritual sense into his Qihai acupoint, he saw an ocean of rainbow clouds and mist, with lights of various colors drifting about. Compared to its usual densely swirling state, it appeared somewhat thin, showing that his injuries had not yet fully healed.
Within this heavy sea of clouds, not only were multi-colored lights drifting, but dark blue vapors also wove through the cloud ocean, jostling aside the surrounding mists and condensing into a tight cluster. Li Xizhi had read many Daoist texts. Normally, when foreign magic power invaded a person's body, it would scatter in all directions, infiltrating the internal organs to wreak havoc individually; it had never been known to gather into a single sphere like this.
This magic power had converged of its own accord, forming a cluster in his qi ocean and floating meekly amid the clouds and mist. It was quite insubstantial, easily dissolvable with his own magic power alone, to say nothing of his talisman qi.
He had originally thought that Dongfang Heyun's magic power, once struck into his body, would run rampant and cause immense destruction. To his surprise, it had only left his entire body freezing cold; using his talisman qi to dissolve and expel it, he had cleared away seven or eight-tenths in no time, leaving only this remnant in his qi ocean.
He studied it closely for a long while and noticed that something was amiss.
Examining the shifts in this magic power, he realized it was not an offensive technique, but rather a sensory art. Understanding soon dawned upon him.
'What does this mean...'
'Dongfang Heyun wants to know Qingchi's situation...'
The Chi clan had wanted Dongfang Heyun to be their blade, but Dongfang Heyun was an outstanding figure among Violet Palace cultivators and certainly wanted to return the spite. This left Li Xizhi caught in the middle, unable to afford offending either side.
Having reached the Violet Palace and being an offspring of the Dragon Monarch—rumored to be the first son of the current master of the Dragon Palace—Dongfang Heyun was by no means an easy character to deal with. How could he suffer Qingchi's disgust for nothing without making a move?
On the surface, he had sent Dongfang Heyun to pursue Li Xizhi not merely out of an earlier agreement, but secretly to plant an eye in Qingchi, using Li Xizhi to detect the sect's movements. Moreover, placing it openly in plain sight clearly demonstrated it was an investigative technique, which would also make Li Xizhi wary of casually asking a Violet Palace master to inspect it. The reasoning was transparent.
And this completely undefended state told Li Xizhi unmistakably:
'Dongfang Heyun wants to know Qingchi's situation...'
Having seen through this, Li Xizhi sighed inwardly. He dared not wipe the cluster of qi away recklessly. He pinned talisman qi over the dark blue vapor, ensuring that if a Violet Palace expert ever stepped in to examine his qi ocean, he could erase it at the first possible instant.
He let out a quiet breath, feeling troubled. The current state of affairs spelled complications for him; his own clan harbored secrets, and the talisman seed and talisman qi within his qi ocean could not be observed either, or things would not be as calm as they were now.
Li Xizhi was not afraid that the talisman seed in his body would be discovered; after all, even Chi Buzi back then had failed to detect it. Discovering the restriction within his body would be fine, but if it provoked a retaliation from the talisman seed and struck dead a peak Violet Palace Real Person, it would throw all of Jiangnan into turmoil.
'Sui Guan is no ordinary figure. If Sui Guan dies on that end, Lushui might manifest on the spot, stepping out of that grotto-heaven and dragging me home to search for the Immortal Mirror.'
'A life spared by a Violet Palace cultivator doesn't come for free...'
'With the talisman seed within me, I don't fear having my mind bewitched, so there isn't much danger.'
Li Qinghong waited on the island for only two days. She cast lightning arts, calling down wind and rain on the island to practice techniques, using the disturbance to mask the rainbow light anomalies produced while Li Xizhi healed his wounds. After only three days, the tightly shut stone door slowly opened.
Releasing his hand seals, Li Xizhi rose and stepped out from the stone door.
Li Qinghong descended on lightning and entered the cave dwelling. Li Xizhi first bowed with cupped hands, shaking out the battered feather robe in his hand, where the palm print on the back was still faintly visible.
Li Qinghong appeared even more graceful and charming now, her long hair tied back as usual. She said gently:
"Don't be in a rush to thank me. Let's discuss business first. How are your injuries?"
Li Xizhi's expression was relatively relaxed, and he said gently:
"What would have lingered in my body to hinder my healing and impair my magic power was quickly dissolved away. The remaining injuries, though heavy, won't affect my Dao path and can be resolved with time."
"Fortunately, dissolving the foreign magic power went fairly smoothly."
Li Qinghong nodded. Pondering for a breath, she asked in a low voice:
"Was it Chi Zhiyun?"
Li Xizhi shook his head. Taking a seat in the cave dwelling alongside his aunt, he replied:
"I was plotted against by someone in the sect, lured into a restricted domain of the dragonkind, and ran into a Violet Palace demon dragon."
Li Xizhi stated concisely:
"In the end, he had misgivings and was unwilling to be Qingchi's blade. He let me return, but left a restriction on me to monitor the surroundings."
Li Qinghong listened to his understated words, but the terror of escaping alive from a Violet Palace cultivator could well be imagined. Hearing his final sentence, she was startled, realizing certain things could no longer be spoken aloud. She quickly asked:
"I wonder what kind of temperament True Person Sui Guan has. If he hears that you escaped alive from a Violet Palace cultivator and comes to inspect in person, that would be disastrous!"
"I'm afraid it's the latter."
Li Xizhi considered this, but held another thought in reserve:
'A life spared by a Violet Palace cultivator doesn't come for free... With the talisman seed within me, I don't fear having my mind bewitched, so there isn't much danger.'
Slowing his speech, Li Xizhi said softly:
"Aunt may not know, but although Chi Zhiyun has grievances with our family, he cares about his reputation. As long as his bottom line isn't breached, he remains fairly open and upright. If he truly intended to harm us, how could our family have survived on the lake until now? We would have been wiped out under some pretext long ago. As long as he cares about his reputation, he cannot openly send people to harm me."
"This matter was either his negligence, allowing someone to exploit an opening, or the Ning family seeking to completely subjugate our family and harming me in the process. The latter is manageable—Yuansu has little lifespan remaining, and Second Great-Uncle's fame is renowned, so there is no great peril."
"I only fear this incident has provoked Chi Zhiyun, making him want to pull weeds by the roots in one stroke!"
Though devoted to cultivation, Li Qinghong was also a discerning woman. She frowned and asked:
"What do you mean?"
"Whether I am dead or alive, an explanation must be given. The various families are not blind, especially the Yang family. Killing their son-in-law..."
"Being harmed and yet having to pretend nothing happened—such is the plight of yielding when weak..."
Li Xizhi calculated silently, feeling more and more that this course of action was necessary. Li Qinghong pondered briefly and sighed.
Li Xizhi said:
"I hope Aunt will accompany me to Xuanyue! Senior Kong is Father's old acquaintance. With you as a witness, we can bypass this matter and claim we never went to the Qunyi barbarians, that only the Han family went, and that the harm never took effect. That will put Chi Zhiyun's mind at ease."
Having just been wronged by the Chi family, Li Xizhi fell silent, hesitant.
Li Qinghong then nodded in agreement and took flight on lightning. Li Xizhi concealed himself behind her, leaving the array together, crossing the Near Sea, and heading for Xuanyue.
Both rode the wind with extreme speed. In barely half a month, they came ashore from the Salt Lake.
Li Qinghong descended on lightning toward the mountain gate of Xuanyue in Shanji Commandery. The pale white radiance was at its peak, and Xuanyue cultivators bustled to and fro in great haste.
She had Xuanyue disciples report to Kong Tingyun, deliberately saying:
"Hearing that my nephew Xizhi is visiting a senior of your noble sect, I ask you to inform Kong Tingyun."
Before long, a pale gold streak of light flew swiftly out from the mountains. Kong Tingyun, dressed in her usual Xiang-colored robes, came out to greet them with pleasant surprise.
Although True Person Changxi was not prominent within Qingchi, Kong Tingyun was, after all, the descendant of a Real Person and had consumed many precious herbs. Her face looked even younger than Li Qinghong's, appearing barely in her twenties. She said warmly:
"Sister Qinghong! We haven't seen each other in years. What brings you to my place?"
Kong Tingyun's ear twitched as she caught a private transmission of magic power.
Li Xizhi revealed his figure and bowed respectfully:
"Xizhi pays his respects to Senior."
Kong Tingyun smiled slightly, sizing him up, thinking to herself:
"He looks nobler than his father; he must take after that Xiao family lady."
"No need for formalities. Please enter the mountain first."
She opened the array. Li Qinghong waited a breath before entering, landing upon Kong Tingyun's immortal peak.
Li Qinghong smiled and said:
"Hearing that Xizhi was here with elder sister, I was worried and came to see."
Kong Tingyun said concisely:
"Xizhi was never on Qingsong Island. I received news elsewhere; that golden rain was indeed the fall of Yuanwu."
***
Lake Wangyue.
Li Xijun made a circuit above the lake and drifted down into the town. A gust of gray wind surged forward, condensing into human form before him. Li Wushao bowed with cupped hands and said softly:
"Reporting to My Lord, the Young Master has emerged from seclusion."
Li Xijun pondered for a moment and stepped into the hall. Both Li Chengliao and his son looked over. Li Xijun waved his hand, "No need for formalities."
Li Xijun stepped forward and landed before the hall. At the very head sat Li Chengliao, draped in a long robe, looking down below. Li Zhouwei stood holding a halberd; he had broken through his seclusion in barely over half a year, successfully achieving Qi Refinement.
Li Xijun stole a glance and counted his age. Li Zhouwei was barely thirteen years old, achieving Qi Refinement even earlier than Kong Tingyun had in her day.
'However, the cultivation method Kong Tingyun practiced... was exceptionally slow during Embryonic Breathing. Comparing the two, who knows how great the difference truly is.'
'Minghuang is bolstered by a talisman pill, which grants an extra layer for nothing, and his medicinal pills and spiritual opportunity are far beyond what Kong Tingyun could match...'
Li Xijun nodded, his thoughts drifting slightly. One hand rested on Hanlin at his waist, its slender blade gleaming with light. He gazed at the morning glow before the hall, a lingering unease in his heart:
'I cannot wait any longer... Grand-Uncle sent word that Shangyuan's breakthrough is near, and signs of unrest in Jiangnan are growing more pronounced, urging me to act early...'
"I saw his methods earlier. When he truly turns ruthless, he is far fiercer than the likes of Ning Hejing and Chi Zhiyan."
Li Xijun calculated silently in his heart, even feeling some hesitation about whether to dispatch troops to the eastern shore. Yet this opportunity was too rare; his family had gone to great lengths to clear all obstacles, and prolonging it would only invite unforeseen changes.
Li Xijun nodded solemnly, giving the order in a deep voice.
Hearing this, Li Chengliao smiled faintly, smoothed his robes, and cupped his hands in reply:
"Your nephew will make the arrangements at once."
Reaching the foot of the steps, Li Xijun saw that the troops in the town had already been quietly mobilized. Calculating the timing, he finally took to the wind, soaring into the sky toward the eastern shore.
Chapter 516