Counterkill

After riding the wind for a stretch, Li Xiangping came upon a small orchard enclosed by a brown wooden fence. Kumquats hung from the branches of the fruit trees, appearing to be the produce of a farming household. *Judging by the distance traveled, I've already penetrated deep into Ji family territory. This household must be farmers under the Ji family's rule.* Having fled through the night, Li Xiangping was deathly pale. The talisman in his hand dimmed, on the verge of being completely spent. Pulling the cyan-gray magical mirror from his robes, Li Xiangping stroked it lightly and narrowed his eyes. Sensing the old Daoist's aura still trailing far behind, he could not help but curse under his breath. From within the mirror, Lu Jiangxian could see far more clearly. The old Daoist had forcefully suppressed his injuries, swallowed several medicinal pills, and forcibly stabilized his breathing. With ferocious malice in his eyes, he rode his flying shuttle, speeding straight toward Li Xiangping. *As long as this old Daoist tries to seize me with a spell or attack my mirror body, I will pretend it is a natural counterattack and strike him dead.* Lu Jiangxian watched with a furrowed brow for a while. Having lost his left shoulder and arm, the old Daoist's dharmic power did not circulate smoothly, and the lingering power of the Taiyin Mysterious Light continued to wreak havoc inside his body, forcing him to close his eyes and regulate his breathing every few breaths. His speed had naturally slowed, yet he was still a cut faster than Li Xiangping. *Just catch up... As long as I catch up to that brat, kill him with a palm strike, and take that mirror, I can leave.* Furious rage, greed, and reason engaged in a fierce tug-of-war in the old Daoist's mind as he snarled inwardly: *If someone in Embryonic Breathing can unleash such power holding that mirror, what would it be like in my hands? Since he fled after using it only once instead of pressing his advantage, that attack must have an enormous cost, meaning he can't use it again right away.* Steering the flying shuttle, the old Daoist gradually accelerated. A village appeared before him, and ahead lay an orchard planted with kumquat trees. The figure was darting through the orchard, trying to pick up speed, no longer riding the wind beneath his feet—his talisman was clearly spent. Li Xiangping flicked his wrist, concealing his final talisman in his palm. It was a Vajra Talisman. Once activated, his skin and bones would become like steel, which should allow him to endure a few blows from the old Daoist in a desperate, last-ditch struggle. The old Daoist was gently descending on his flying shuttle when Li Xiangping suddenly spun around, raising the cyan-gray mirror once more. "Again?!" The old Daoist nearly coughed up blood in panic. He jerked the flying shuttle sharply aside, crashing lopsided onto a tree branch—only to see Li Xiangping standing still with a cold sneer, leaning against a kumquat tree and watching him. "Clever brat." Instead of anger, joy surged through the old Daoist. Patting his storage bag to stow the shuttle, he drifted lightly down to the ground, only to find Li Xiangping already charging straight toward him. Wasting no words, the old Daoist conjured a dazzling burst of golden light in his hand and struck straight toward Li Xiangping's chest. A hum resonated from Li Xiangping as a soft white glow emanated around him, attempting to dissipate the incoming golden light. The old Daoist's spell whirled within the soft light several times before finally blasting into Li Xiangping's body. *Pfft.* Li Xiangping's internal organs shuddered violently. He spewed a mouthful of blood, and the mirror flew from his hand, tumbling erratically toward the ground. The old Daoist's gaze was instantly hooked. The white bristles of his horsetail whisk lengthened against the wind, forming what looked like a giant hand reaching out to snatch the magical mirror. A vicious glint flashed in Li Xiangping's eyes. Taking advantage of the old Daoist's distraction, he formed the Golden Light Technique with his left hand, aiming to smash it straight into the old Daoist's head. From inside the mirror, Lu Jiangxian watched the layers of bristles reach toward him. For some reason, an intense revulsion welled up in his chest, as if an arrogant child had picked up chopsticks from a table and pointed them straight at his eyes. Yet at the same time, he thought: *A perfect chance!* The moment the bristles touched the mirror, they recoiled as if brushing against burning coals. As though subjected to unbearable humiliation, the cyan-gray mirror rose abruptly into the air, hovering a foot above the ground and pulsing with rapid bursts of white radiance. The twelve seal characters around the rim of the mirror lit up one by one. Scorching white light rippled across the mirror's surface like water, dazzling the eyes as it hung quietly above their heads like a miniature sun. A sense of peril so intense it induced shivering instantly surfaced in both their hearts. The crushing pressure rendered Li Xiangping and the old Daoist completely immobile, leaving them frozen in place like an opera halted mid-performance. *Disaster!* The old Daoist's heart sank instantly, and he thought in boundless regret: *I shouldn't have tried to grab that mirror with my whisk!* Having cultivated for many years, the old Daoist had heard of miraculous, unfathomable magical artifacts that possessed immense spirituality. They required reverence and entreaty, and came with many taboos—much like the Qingchi Sect's Daxue Juefeng, which would remain as motionless as a stone if driven by someone it had not recognized. *Ruined, completely ruined! Is this mirror truly so miraculous? I must have violated its taboo!* Li Xiangping had been about to strike the old Daoist's head with a Golden Light Technique when the crushing pressure froze him in place. Seeing the mirror rise enveloped in white radiance—just as his father and second brother had described on the night they encountered the wolf demon—he immediately realized the old Daoist had likely triggered the mirror's spontaneous counterattack, and breathed a huge sigh of relief inwardly. Yet by some unknown method, the old Daoist sent his low voice into Li Xiangping's ear: "Little friend, this old Daoist was as foolish as a pig. I know not which taboo I violated to provoke this artifact into attacking us both. If you have any sacrificial prayers or incantations, please save us... I will surely reward you handsomely afterward..." Li Xiangping rolled his eyes hard in his mind, paying no heed whatsoever to the old Daoist's raving nonsense. Looking at the immobilized old Daoist, Lu Jiangxian gained a new understanding of his own strength, thinking quietly: *So by condensing the Taiyin Mysterious Light, as long as the distance is close enough, it can even intimidate and paralyze someone at Qi Refinement, leaving them incapable of moving.* Sweeping his divine sense across the area, Lu Jiangxian discovered someone in this farm household had already awakened. A youth dressed in ragged hemp clothes was tiptoeing toward them, crouching behind a tree and watching the two intently. *Better settle this quickly.* With a thought, the pure-white Taiyin Mysterious Light poured downward. The old Daoist managed only half a syllable from his throat before he and his whisk were cleanly melted away like snow. *Clatter.* A small brocade pouch dropped to the ground, and the whisk's handle—crafted from some unknown spiritual material—had melted into a pale-cyan metal lump, falling lightly onto the earth. Then Lu Jiangxian slowly extinguished the white radiance, hovering quietly in midair. Li Xiangping finally stirred. Spitting out another mouthful of blood, he collapsed limply to the ground. Just as he prepared to regulate his breathing, he took a heavy blow to the head. Stars burst before his eyes as he struggled to roll over and look. A farm boy dressed in tattered hemp clothing, his face twisted in greed and delight, was straddling Li Xiangping. Raising a stone in his hands, he smashed it down mercilessly toward Li Xiangping in an overwhelming barrage. *Damn it! What brazen guts—you dare try to scavenge from an immortal cultivator?!* Li Xiangping barely gathered the last trace of dharmic power in his body. Thrusting up his left arm to block the stones, his right hand fumbled across the ground. Battered until dizzy and seeing stars, he finally gripped a tree branch. Imbuing it with a Golden Light Art, he plunged it toward the youth. Infused with the Golden Light Technique, the branch became extraordinarily sharp, piercing straight through the youth's neck. The youth's eyes went wide and vacant. Spitting out bloody froth, he clutched his throat and collapsed to the ground, thrashing about. Slumped on the ground, Li Xiangping watched the boy thrash and convulse. Terrified of attracting more people, he hastily grabbed the brocade pouch and the lump of metal, stuffed them into his robes, snatched the magical mirror floating in the air, and staggered to his feet, fleeing toward the outskirts of the village.