Kong Guxi’s words made several members of the Kong family lower their heads. Kong Qiuyan responded with an affirmation, a look of regret surfacing on her face as she shook her head.
"Uncle was merely making an inadvertent error. Sect Master, please forgive him... If our uncles had not all been killed at sea by Changxiao Gate, we would not be in such dire straits today... We have troubled you, Sect Master."
Before Kong Guxi could respond, he saw purple lightning gallop through the air and land nearby, resolving into a man in silver armor. Kong Guxi hurried forward, cupping his hands and speaking respectfully:
"Brother Chengkun... I suffered some injuries... and was busy regrouping the disciples, so I failed to pay my respects in time..."
"Sect Master Kong, there is no need for this."
Li Chengkun quickly supported him. Kong Guxi’s seniority was actually of Li Ximing’s generation, far higher than his own, so he could not let him genuinely bow. Straightening his expression, he said hastily:
"Our Clan Master wishes to see you!"
Kong Guxi indeed stopped bowing and rose at once, following briskly behind him. Knowing that Xuanyue was severely injured, Li Chengkun offered consoling words:
"I heard that several of your guest elders suffered injuries, mostly while covering for our clan’s cultivators. As a junior, I offer my thanks."
"Ah, it was only right."
Kong Guxi’s legs trembled with pain, which he suppressed with magic power. Maintaining complete decorum on his face, he replied respectfully:
"Without Wangyue, Xuanyue’s lineage would no longer exist. Brother Chengkun is too courteous. Although Guest Elder Bai of the 'Sound of the Cavern Spring' has fallen, we still have Sun Bai, who is even better at healing. These injuries are nothing."
When the two reached the hall, Li Zhouwei was seated at the head, questioning Sun Bai in detail about the cultivators’ injuries. Seeing Kong Guxi enter, Sun Bai immediately stepped aside. Sensible and tactful, the old man lowered his head and withdrew.
Sun Bai was a guest elder of Xuanyue. Strictly speaking, bypassing Kong Guxi to approach Li Zhouwei directly was indeed somewhat improper. But people naturally followed power, and today, Fuyuezi was practically the only one who did not flock to the Li family’s side. Kong Guxi did not mind in the slightest.
In his youth, Kong Guxi had also been arrogant and domineering. Having been a hedonistic scion himself, he understood all too well what gave someone the right to be haughty—now, without a Violet Palace backer, they were merely dogs picking up scraps under the table. Even he stepped forward respectfully and bowed:
"Greetings, Clan Master!"
"Senior, please, you must not."
Li Zhouwei showed modest courtesy, and attendants immediately moved to support him up. But Kong Guxi insisted on bowing, saying respectfully:
"Clan Master turned the tide and saved my Xuanyue lineage. You deserve this bow!"
He bowed and expressed his gratitude, performing the full set of customary courtesies. Li Zhouwei waited patiently until he finished, exchanged a few polite demurs, and, wasting no more words on trivialities, turned directly to business:
"Senior, with so many people now under your command, what are your arrangements?"
Now that Li Zhouwei had asked this question, Kong Guxi naturally could not give an answer like returning to the Xuanyue mountain gate. He knew Shanji Commandery had lost a great deal of territory; if their group simply retreated to the Xuanyue sect gate, the Violet Palace grand formation would keep them perfectly safe, but what about the Wilderness? Was the Li family supposed to defend it all on their own?
The master of Xuanyue immediately knelt, showing a timid and frightened expression:
"To report to Clan Master: the mountain passes and checkpoints of Shanji Commandery have fallen, and the surrounding borders are fraught with perils. If we travel back and forth, I fear we will be intercepted by Guan Gongxiao... This old man begs Clan Master for a place to allow us to station ourselves in the Wilderness for now, and wait until the situation eases before returning to Xuanyue..."
When he finished speaking, silence fell over the hall. Sun Bai, waiting outside the doors, could not help turning his head away in shame, and even Li Zhouwei gave him an extra glance.
Leaving aside whether Shanji Commandery could be held, in Li Zhouwei’s plan, Xuanyue’s Foundation Establishment cultivators and disciples were always going to be stationed in the Wilderness. After all, the Li family’s members each had duties, and the clan was already short-handed; naturally, he could not allow Kong Guxi and the others to return to their mountain gate to cultivate and nurse their wounds—who, then, would defend the Wilderness?
As for allowing Kong Guxi and his people to enter the Isle, Li Zhouwei had never even considered it. The Li family had no intention of annexing Xuanyue; this banner still needed to be preserved, and he had not even thought about trying to recruit Xuanyue’s guest elders.
'Only this Sun Bai has some utility... He possesses "Xiaozhong Forest" after all, most of whose subtleties lie in healing. Our clan wanted to find a "Sound of the Cavern Spring" before, but this Wood Virtuous Dao Foundation is far more formidable than a half-baked "Sound of the Cavern Spring."
Li Zhouwei weighed the matter in his mind, nodding slightly on the outside as he spoke:
"Sect Master is being too polite. The Wilderness was originally your noble clan’s domain to begin with; why speak of making room? I also worried that Xuanyue’s mountain gate lies far away by the edge of Salt Lake—not only would coming and going be inconvenient, but providing reinforcements would be difficult.
"Since Sect Master and I are of the same mind, please find an auspicious mountain range here in the Wilderness to serve as your foothold!"
Kong Guxi nodded repeatedly. He also needed to move a portion of the sect’s treasures out, so that if the situation truly deteriorated beyond recovery and the mountain gate fell as well, Xuanyue would still have some hope left.
He waited in trepidation for a moment until he finally heard Li Zhouwei ask:
"Regarding Mount Jingyi, does Sect Master have any news?"
Kong Guxi dropped to his knees with a thud and bowed his head to recount the matter. Li Zhouwei listened with furrowed brows until he finished speaking, then relaxed his brow and shook his head:
"Sect Master, this clansman of yours... truly refused to meet?"
He fixed his gaze on Kong Guxi’s eyes, watching him nod in both sorrow and fear, showing no sign of pretense. The sect master then presented the letter written by his brother. After reading it, Li Zhouwei consoled him:
"Overseas sects were never trustworthy to begin with. Leaving his clan at a young age, it was always unlikely he would side with the Kong clan. Let it go!"
Even as he dismissed Kong Guxi, he offered a probing reminder:
"However, what you tell me does not settle the matter. It will still have to be brought before our Real Person. Once the Real Person returns, I will naturally send someone over."
With those words, the half of Kong Guxi’s heart that had settled rose back to his throat. Sighing, he withdrew to seek Sun Bai for healing. After escorting him out, Li Chengkun stepped forward thoughtfully and sighed:
"Real Person Changxi chose well. Though Kong Guxi displays no great strategy or scheming, his virtue lies in seeing things clearly, letting go quickly, and being willing to bow his head. These few qualities alone... are enough to save Xuanyue!"
Li Zhouwei nodded in agreement and said:
"Though lacking grand strategy and ordinarily mediocre, he is nonetheless a pillar in times of peril, a fine steed amidst collapse. Seeing things clearly and swallowing his pride—you say it is merely these two traits, but how many people can truly achieve them? When the day of ruin truly comes, life and death hinge on just a few choices. How many could match him?"
Li Chengkun voiced his praise, then added with concern:
"Yet at this moment the Real Person has not returned, and Mount Jingyi has wavered. The road ahead will be even harder."
Li Zhouwei neither agreed nor disagreed, saying only:
"At worst, we yield both Shanji Commandery and Xuanyue’s mountain gate. We will not end up with nothing. Those on the front lines are Xuanyue cultivators anyway. Setting aside Duxian Dao, whom we have already offended long ago, as long as our clan remains cautious, this affair is guaranteed to be a profitable venture.
"It is just that Shanji and the Xuanyue mountain gate cannot be surrendered right off the bat. After all, our clan has not even set foot inside yet... Losing them right at the start would reflect poorly on our reputation. Defending one step and yielding one step is still better than having gained nothing at all."
In truth, throughout this major battle, aside from An Siwei, the Li family had suffered virtually no substantive losses, merely petty territorial interests and injuries. With a Violet Palace cultivator backing their family, so long as their people survived, none of this was a grave issue. He paused briefly, fretting over An Siwei’s situation for a moment, before looking at the letter from Mount Jingyi. After pondering for a breath, he answered:
"You say Mount Jingyi has wavered, but I doubt it."
Li Chengkun looked up, and Li Zhouwei continued:
"Whether Real Person Xuanyi was truly held back by Chunyi Dao is hard to say, but Kong Gumo of Mount Jingyi... might not truly be disregarding the Kong family.
"If I were Changxi, I would certainly leave behind a few lines of bloodline for myself. Kong Gumo may very well be Changxi’s final arrangement—if our Li clan were to go back on our word, refuse to shelter the Kong family, and instead take the treasures and divide them with Duxian Dao... or worse, drive out the Kong family entirely to curry favor with Ye Gui, who is in the mid-stage Violet Palace...
"Then the inland Kong clan would inevitably be annihilated, with not even their direct lineage surviving. A child like Kong Gumo, who has severed ties with the family, would be the Kong clan’s true final spark. As the disciple of a Violet Palace Real Person, his Foundation Establishment is guaranteed... And refusing to aid his clan marks him as an ungrateful wretch, so the Violet Palace Real Persons would not go out of their way to kill him right in front of Real Person Xuanyi."
Li Zhouwei spoke as he leafed through a book. Li Chengkun understood at once and said:
"Clan Master means... Xuanyi accepted benefits from Changxi, but the condition might not have been to rescue Xuanyue, but rather to stay out of the conflict and protect Kong Gumo?"
"Not necessarily," Li Zhouwei said, lifting his brush. "Changxi was a wise man, and a wise man does not seek hardship. Since he told our family that Mount Jingyi would be an ally, the conditions likely included aiding Xuanyue as well. It was just a matter of whether it was minor or major, mandatory or best-effort, or left to his discretion—even skirting the edges would count. That way, when our clan’s Real Person comes knocking, there will still be an explanation.
"This matter has yet to be fully accounted for, so let us not place too much weight on Mount Jingyi. Most affairs in the inland can only rely on ourselves."
Li Zhouwei paused his brush slightly, a look of worry finally showing on his face as he said:
"These are merely secondary matters. My greatest concern is that the Real Person has yet to return."
No matter how dire Xuanyue’s plight became, it was ultimately just Xuanyue. His family could always disengage. Regardless of what changes occurred, Li Zhouwei was confident he could handle them. The only thing that could not happen was harm befalling Li Ximing... If anything happened to him, not only would Wangyue and Xuanyue collapse in an instant, but Li Zhouwei himself would have to flee into exile overseas!
***
The Great Void.
A vast expanse of empty darkness. Draped in sky light, Li Ximing sat silently atop the white steps.
Above his head, a heavenly gate towered into the darkness. Dragon banners and simurgh carriages shuttled through it, drifting without a sound. Atop the heavenly gate, figures in golden armor and golden garments stood in various postures, motionless as statues.
Only the platinum streamers fluttered gently, casting down rays of sky light like countless golden threads, drifting soft and light.
Beneath the heavenly gate were three tiers of white steps, each over a zhang across. Li Ximing sat cross-legged upon the highest step. Surging purple flames flowed around his body as he maintained silence, his hands forming seals.
Beyond this heavenly gate, dense dark-purple radiance drifted and encroached like mist, drawing near and retreating, nearly merging with the blackness of the Great Void. From time to time, patches of it were dispersed by the sky light, revealing even thicker divine ability and magic power locking the entire heavenly gate within.
Ye Gui had not uttered a single word. He merely pressed his divine ability into the Great Void, forcing Li Ximing to sit down and contend with it. A suffocating silence hung continuously between the two.
Li Ximing could even sense that his opponent had no desire to engage in an all-out battle, merely aiming to confine him here.
Although he held Xuanyue’s prized treasure, the Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger, and could break free from this place to go to the rescue if Li Zhouwei encountered any peril, Ye Gui had methods of his own as well. Li Ximing did not truly wish to fight Ye Gui, so he sat quietly, even if being held in check was an unpleasant feeling.
Ye Gui’s strength was beyond doubt superior to his. Li Ximing could sense that the other man’s divine ability and magic power exerted just the right amount of pressure, shrouding the Great Void. With the divine ability of "Nanchou Water" obscuring his sight, Li Ximing could not even discern distances in the Great Void, seeing only the tiny patch of ground directly beneath his feet facing the Wilderness.
Seeing Guan Gongxiao and the others repelled, Li Ximing felt a measure of relief and comfort. Calculating it in his mind:
"Those who died were all Xuanyue cultivators, which means none of ours died. As for the preserved Shanji Commandery... our family will not defend it, though I wonder if Ziyan Gate would be willing to take it..."
Although the Li family had repelled Duxian Dao in this grand battle, Li Ximing understood that it did not mean the remaining territory could be held. The adjoining border was simply too long; the longer time passed, the less securely it could be defended. After such a battle, with both sides retreating to rest, it merely signified that the Li family had the discretion to dispose of the remainder of Shanji Commandery.
"If all else fails, I can ask Sumian of Xuanmiao Temple and Ling Mei of the Sword Sect. Both border this place... Giving them the advantage is still better than giving it to Duxian Dao!"
These were matters for after his return. Li Ximing immediately halted his train of thought. The purple light before him showed no sign of waning. Holding the gold-veined profound pearl in one hand, Li Ximing prepared to escape.
But on second thought:
'The Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger is a rare and exceptional spiritual artifact. Although it belonged to Real Person Changxi and has been seen in public before, Ye Gui only arrived in Jiangnan a dozen years ago and is very likely unfamiliar with it. If I use it to flee like this, I will expose a spiritual artifact to him for nothing. Once he is wary of it, I will have one fewer variable in any future turn of events.'
With the mindset of saving every trump card he could, Li Ximing did not move. After half a quarter of an hour passed and Ye Gui still had not spoken, he gave a soft sigh and called out clearly:
"Does Fellow Daoist have any guidance to offer?"
He waited several breaths before Real Person Ye Gui’s figure finally paced out from the Great Void. Raising his head, Ye Gui cast a faint, dark look at him from beneath his brows and spoke:
"Fellow Daoist Zhaojing, are you willing to discuss the matter of Xuanyue now?"
'To hell with your Xuanyue. What underhanded plot are you hatching now? Hurry up and dispel this rotten divine ability of yours...'
Li Ximing paused slightly, then said:
"Senior Changxi entrusted Xuanyue to Real Person Sumian and me. Naturally, we must stabilize this immortal sect. Since Fellow Daoist Ye Gui is willing to talk, you may speak your mind."
Ye Gui cradled that ritual-like dharma sword in his arms, his expression composed as he suddenly spoke:
"I have heard that the Mingyang lineage is not adept at escape arts. If I were to discuss the Dao with you and hold Fellow Daoist here for three to five years, I imagine that would hardly be pleasant, would it?"
Li Ximing frowned. He truly was not skilled in escape arts, and "Audience at the Heavenly Gate" possessed no subtleties related to escape techniques. Ye Gui also possessed a bodily divine ability, which was more than enough to suppress him... But he had the Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger to make up for this shortcoming, so it was hard to say whether he could escape or not.
Yet he did not know what methods Ye Gui had at his disposal, nor had he ever truly fought a Violet Palace cultivator, let alone someone who was already in the mid-stage Violet Palace right off the bat. After brief consideration, he decided to hear out his nonsense and asked:
"What does Fellow Daoist mean...?"
Ye Gui’s tone suddenly became cordial. He said softly:
"There is a cultivator within the Xuanyue mountain gate named Kong Haiying. If Fellow Daoist can dispose of him, our two houses can still sit down to talk and divide Xuanyue together..."
The man raised an eyebrow and smiled:
"I know your noble clan values reputation. On the surface, I can put up a fight as well. Once we reach the line you and I agree upon, both our families will call a halt. The cultivators of Xuanyue will naturally be deeply grateful and serve you like dogs, while I eliminate a thorn in my side. Wouldn't that be a win for both of us?"
Chapter 731