Below, Guest Elder Wu had already fetched the items. At Kong Guxi's nod, the guest elder immediately stepped forward carrying a tiered stand. Two rows of soul lamps were arranged in neat order, mounted on a base of dark timber, their faint blue flames flickering slightly.
The lower row held only life jades, clearly belonging to disciples and guest elders and of little consequence. Higher up were those belonging to Kong Qiuyan and the others, who already warranted soul lamps; more than half of these were extinguished. Above them was Kong Guxi's generation. Their soul lamps were a ring larger and bore more ornate carvings, but only three out of ten remained lit.
One tier higher, nearly all were snuffed out, with only a single lamp still burning. Li Ximing could sense that it belonged to Kong Tingyun. Yet another tier up, on a gilt base, only a single lamp was lit as well, presumably corresponding to Kong Haiying.
At the very top rested an extinguished soul lamp of jade inlaid with gold and silver patterns—that of Changxi. That single lamp alone made the entire stand astoundingly heavy, but fortunately Guest Elder Wu was a Foundation Establishment cultivator after all, and naturally held it steady.
While he was busy currying favor, having the ancestral soul lamps—which normally sat in the ancestral hall where no one dared so much as touch them—brought out and served like dishes left the few Xuanyue cultivators feeling humiliated, and they bowed their heads in shame.
Only, no one was paying attention to them at the moment. Everyone was gazing at the lamps in astonishment and curiosity. Only a young man in crimson stood behind Li Zhouwei with his hands tucked in his sleeves, watching the Xuanyue cultivators intently, his golden eyes fixed on their faces.
To the side, Sun Bai pulled on Kong Guli's sleeve to comfort him. Kong Qiuyan kept her head lowered and eyes closed. Only Kong Guxi, the sect master of Xuanyue, stood at the very front with great deference. Sensing the young man's gaze, he buried his head even lower.
Li Jiangqian withdrew his gaze and signaled to Li Shuwan beside him. Clad in a long dress of cloud-satin, the woman also looked toward Kong Guxi, asking via a secret transmission technique, "That man is the Xuanyue sect master? Now that the Real Person wants to investigate thoroughly, he is here to cooperate."
Li Jiangqian replied, "Without Kong Guxi, Xuanyue's orthodoxy would have collapsed to rock bottom long ago; how could they have held out until today? I heard Uncle-Grandfather Li Cheng speak of him before. Let us both watch how he handles this."
The crowd remained silent, though privately they had already begun conversing with their own thoughts. Li Ximing was well aware of this, but merely instructed, "Sect Master, please explain."
Kong Guxi hastily responded. Tucking up his sleeves, he stepped forward and pointed at the brightest lamp on a gilt base, positioned one tier above Kong Tingyun's, introducing, "This is the soul lamp of my granduncle, Kong Haiying."
The others all looked up. Li Ximing did not speak, but Li Zhouwei, standing beside him, said, "Bring the portraits."
Before Kong Guxi could react, someone below had already presented a portrait. Li Wen took it and unfurled it, revealing a middle-aged man with a broad forehead and a square face. Pressed beneath it were well over ten more portraits, all virtually identical.
Kong Guxi did not need to think twice to know they must have ordered his disciples and guest elders to paint them separately. He simply kept his head down and remained silent. Seeing Guest Elder Wu come forward, look closely at the soul lamp, and respectfully state:
"Reporting to the Real Person, although Master Haiying often secluded himself, he showed his face once before his breakthrough. I have seen him, and his aura is identical to the one on this soul lamp. This is without question his soul lamp."
That the aura on a soul lamp matched the cultivator was beyond doubt. Several more people subsequently came forward to identify it, as well as rogue cultivators who had met him, confirming it without error.
Only then did Li Ximing sweep his spiritual sense across it, committing the aura to memory.
Li Ximing could invoke the Immortal Mirror to ascertain who exactly was in seclusion within the secret chambers, but the crux of the matter was that this could not be brought to light. What made it trickier was that of the Xuanyue cultivators, Li Ximing had only ever seen Kong Tingyun.
This meant that even if Li Ximing thoroughly investigated the secluded figures using the magical mirror, he would still be unable to recognize their identities and could only judge by appearances. Yet appearances could be disguised at will; a Violet Palace cultivator could fundamentally alter one's physical appearance, whereas aura alone could not be faked.
Now having memorized the aura on the soul lamp, he ordered Fu En's aura, cultivation level, and physical features to be presented one by one as well. Though Kong Guxi was bewildered, he complied with every instruction.
Rumor had it that Fu En was already dead, so naturally there was no soul lamp for him. Fortunately, after searching about, they found a magical artifact he had blood-refined. The portrait depicted a scarred man whose looks were truly nothing to compliment.
Li Ximing was now confident he could distinguish those in seclusion. Yet he had gone through such great lengths not merely to identify people by their aura, but also to find an excuse for his subsequent judgments and actions—whether through divination or sorcery—to prevent others from growing suspicious.
And so Kong Guxi knelt firmly, finally hearing the Real Person seated above speak:
"Do you possess any personal belongings of these individuals?"
Without hesitation, Kong Guxi replied respectfully, "Decades have passed, and most can no longer be found. Aside from this weapon of Fu En's that was preserved by accident, most of the remaining magical artifacts have changed hands and lost their efficacy. Fortunately, Master Haiying still has bloodline descendants, but as for Master Tingyun..."
"No matter. Bring whatever can be brought."
Li Ximing nodded. This whole affair was merely for show and of little consequence; having items from Kong Haiying and Fu En was enough. With an order given, people naturally went down to arrange it.
Having said this much, enough had been shown to the various families. A mere phrase about "personal belongings" left ample room for their imagination, making whatever he did afterward seem reasonable. Only then did he wave his hand to dismiss the outsiders, leaving Kong Guxi behind alone.
Li Ximing said, "I took a trip to Ziyan and spoke with Real Person Tinglan. Shanji Commandery cannot be held, and your mountain gate will also be hard to preserve."
Kong Guxi felt his heart turn freezing cold upon hearing this. Fortunately, Li Ximing offered a word of reassurance:
"Do not overthink it. The old Real Person understood these matters clearly. The two of them may not even be in the sect. I am currently seeking a Real Person skilled in divination to calculate where Kong Haiying actually is. If neither of them is at the mountain gate, we naturally must make plans early."
These words were like a bucket of boiling water poured over him, washing away the icy chill in Kong Guxi's heart until nothing remained. His eyes reddened at once:
*Indeed... The old ancestor racked his brains and exhausted his heart; he must have anticipated this. There is no need to overthink! No need to overthink!*
Seeing that he understood, Li Ximing dissolved into the Great Void and vanished. Kong Guxi kowtowed and hurried out of the courtyard. Though the tear stains on his face had yet to dry, his steps were already much lighter.
Li Cheng was waiting outside the courtyard and casually uttered a few words about secrecy. But with so many eyes and ears earlier, keeping it secret was merely an attempt to conceal what was already obvious—nothing more than going through the motions. Even so, Kong Guxi remained entirely respectful, pledging his word with absolute certainty.
As soon as Li Cheng left, the entire mountain instantly emptied. All the previous bustling activity was like a gust of wind, coming fast and leaving just as quickly. Feeling somewhat faint, Kong Guxi stepped out of the hall, only to see the table holding the soul lamps placed in the courtyard, with Kong Guli staring blankly at it from the steps.
He walked over. Kong Qiuyan was nowhere to be seen, but from a distance he caught sight of Kong Yu kneeling outside the courtyard, kowtowing toward the table filled with soul lamps. Kong Guxi hurriedly halted, neither daring to step forward nor daring to boss him around, only asking, "Great-Granduncle..."
Kong Yu continued to kowtow without stopping, the thuds ringing out nine times in succession. The old man let out a long breath and lay against the ground, unmoving. Kong Guxi waited for a moment, but his spiritual sense detected something amiss. His expression changed abruptly, and he rushed forward, shouting:
"Great-Granduncle!"
He lifted Kong Yu, and a patch of dark blood dripped down from the old man's nose.
The dark trails of blood flowed across the old man's face like small streams, trickling down his nostrils and neck. The face that had always been jovial and smiling had darkened, frozen in a stiff expression.
The old man's upper eyelids were drawn back to an astonishing degree, exposing an excessive amount of white, and the corners of his mouth seemed to hold a half-smile from repeated twisting and struggling. A deep, extreme terror was suppressed beneath his features.
Kong Guxi was seized with horror. The old man was already completely dead.
It felt as though his head had been struck by a hammer, stars flashing before his eyes. Stunned by an unbelievable dread, he remained frozen in place. It took two or three breaths before he heard Kong Guli's cries behind him. Kong Guxi murmured in bewilderment:
"Why?"
Kong Guxi was mentally prepared for any hardship, yet he had never imagined Kong Yu would commit suicide so abruptly. Though Kong Yu was frail with age and perpetually depressed, Kong Guxi had never sensed that the old man had reached the point of seeking death...
Awkward though the previous situation was... it could not compare to the depths of despair everyone felt when the old ancestor's final decree was revealed that day. Perhaps this truly meant the Xuanyue orthodoxy was destined to lose its mountain gate, but had that day not yet arrived? Was this necessary?
If it were the influence of a divine ability... Li Ximing was on the mountain. Any such influence could only have come from that Real Person himself. Could someone have struck during the mere dozens of breaths after he left? What benefit was there in harming an old man like Kong Yu!
The deductions in his mind were torn to shreds by this situation that defied all common sense. For a time, he did not even set down Kong Yu's corpse, until Kong Guli rushed over to pull it away.
Kong Guli and Kong Yu came from two closely related branches and had both been largely neglected in the past, sharing a deeper bond. Wailing loudly, he took the old man into his arms. Kong Guxi remained standing frozen where he was, his pupils slowly dilating. Soon coming to his senses, he lamented mournfully:
"Great-Granduncle could not bear to witness the destruction of the Xuanyue mountain gate, and so took his own life."
***
The Xuanyue mountain gate.
Li Ximing rode rays of light through the Great Void, landing before the mountain. With a flick of his finger, a jade pendant flew from his sleeve and shone upon the grand formation. The Violet Palace grand formation, the Hundred Mountains Spirit Containment Formation, parted on its own, and Li Ximing strolled inside with ease.
At this stage, most of the Xuanyue mountain gate's assets were already effectively under the Li family's control, with only the Daoist repository and the treasury remaining untouched. The Hundred Mountains Spirit Containment Formation was naturally no exception; Li Ximing's authority over the formation already far surpassed Kong Guxi's.
Now, emerging within the formation upon rays of light, his spiritual sense linked to the formation plate to ensure isolation from the Great Void. Everything large and small across the entire Xuanyue mountain gate had nowhere to hide. The sect's disciples were already pitifully few, with only one or two people seen across several peaks.
And with a shift of his thoughts, the positions of the various secluded chambers were revealed one by one:
*Linked to the grand formation... there are five seclusion chambers currently active... The one Kong Guxi brought me to back then was even detached from the grand formation, which means... there are six in total.*
Adopting a pensive posture, he chanted silently in his heart:
*Descendant of the Li clan, Ximing, respectfully invites the magical mirror to probe the obscure and subtle, perceive the profound mysteries, illuminate all eight directions, and apprehend ghosts and gods...*
He felt only a wave of coolness emerge from within the Shengyang Mansion. Nothing changed in either the Great Void or the physical world, yet Li Ximing's spiritual sense abruptly surged outward, the reality and illusions of the entire Xuanyue mountain gate floating into his mind.
*As expected... the origin of the Immortal Mirror's cool sensation does not pass through the Great Void... It truly cannot be detected even by ghosts and gods...*
One had to understand that there were few things in this world capable of functioning over vast distances. Whether soul lamps, life jades, formations, or secret techniques, all used the Great Void as their medium. Thus, whenever Violet Palace cultivators fought within the Great Void, these things frequently malfunctioned, and theoretically it could even destroy someone's life jade for no reason, or cause a family's minor formation to abruptly weaken or strengthen...
Yet this refreshing coolness clearly originated from the Immortal Mirror, appearing out of nowhere beyond Li Ximing's comprehension, giving him a fright that sent a chill through his heart.
These stray thoughts flickered by, and Li Ximing restrained himself from dwelling on them. His spiritual sense sought out the nearest seclusion chamber, passing through the walls as though the formation did not exist. He saw a pitch-black secret chamber where a skeleton knelt upon a prayer mat, scattered with tiny specks of golden radiance.
"A failed attempt at Foundation Establishment; it's the 'Tianjin Helmet.'"
This was nine times out of ten an enforcer groomed by Changxi who had failed to cross this hurdle. After his death, Xuanyue was so deserted that there was no one to attend to it, leaving the corpse lying in the cave dwelling like this.
Li Ximing withdrew his spiritual sense and entered another chamber, finding the stone room completely empty, with only the formation operating in vain.
He then inspected the remaining three chambers one by one. Aside from yet another corpse, the other two were likewise vacant. Wandering through, he finally reached the seclusion chamber Kong Guxi had pointed out for Kong Tingyun.
This place was deliberately hidden, not even linked to the Violet Palace grand formation. Its heavy door was forged from Mystic Vein Stone, sealing the interior from the exterior and benefiting earth-virtue cultivation. Li Ximing's spiritual sense penetrated the wall and found a thick layer of spiritual earth spread inside, rich with spirit qi, amidst which flickered a wisp of profound mystery like a cold star.
Most of this cultivator's physical body seemed to have dissolved into spirit qi to supply the breakthrough, veiled within the thick spirit qi. Yet the aura was plain as day, and Li Ximing recognized it in the very next instant:
"It's Fu En..."
The one inside the so-called seclusion chamber of Kong Tingyun... was the Xuanyue guest elder, Fu En!
*Such rich spiritual essence. Xuanyue truly provided ample resources... The spiritual essence in this place has been boosted with spirit stones, far better than my own back at Mount Wu. And though this man is merely a guest elder... his cultivation is remarkably solid...*
*Yet Changxi, oh Changxi... who died all those years ago!*
Both Kong Haiying's and Kong Tingyun's soul lamps were still burning, making Real Person Changxi's arrangements glaringly obvious. Knowing his own sect's situation, he knew the Xuanyue mountain gate would inevitably be occupied. He had stashed the two of them away in places unknown, leaving only Fu En behind in the mountain!
As for the one who perished all those years ago... it was very likely a scapegoat sacrificed in their stead!
*So... once my Li family can no longer withstand the pressure and relinquishes the Xuanyue mountain gate, the only one who dies will be Fu En. As for Kong Tingyun and Kong Haiying... who knows where they are peacefully attempting their breakthroughs...*
*In that case... we cannot wait any longer...*
If the one inside were a direct descendant like Kong Haiying or Kong Tingyun, Li Ximing might have gritted his teeth and sought other ways to save them. But the person inside was merely a guest elder named Fu En, someone with no relation to his family whatsoever. There was truly no reason to keep shouldering the pressure to hold Shanji Commandery and the Xuanyue mountain gate...
Li Ximing sighed slightly. After all, to have one's mountain gate fall into another's hands right in the middle of a breakthrough—one could well imagine how despairing the secluded cultivator would be. Yet he never considered himself or his family to be righteous benefactors; they had no obligation to sacrifice themselves in vain and reap bitter fruit for his sake. They could only offer what assistance did not harm their own interests. He sighed inwardly:
*Since the mountain gate can be relinquished, I should negotiate properly with Ziyan as much as possible. When inviting a Violet Palace cultivator to enter the mountain... let them leave him here to attempt his breakthrough. In any case, this man has little hope. Once he perishes on his own, he can even add some spiritual essence to this place! On the one-in-ten-thousand chance he breaks through... he is merely an outsider with a different surname... We shall discuss it further.*
He sorted through his thoughts, preparing his excuses, and reflected inwardly:
*Good... From now on, the soul lamps were tampered with by Changxi. The first to die was Kong Haiying, the one in the sect is Fu En, and Kong Tingyun's whereabouts are unknown. Relinquishing the mountain gate like this can both ease tensions with Duxian Dao and give Ziyan Gate an explanation! As for whether they believe it or not, that will be a matter for later.*
Chapter 745