The Peacock Sea.
The waters of the Peacock Sea were quite distinct, a deep brownish hue shimmering with greenish light. Vast stretches of the water's surface were an interwoven tapestry of purplish-bronze and greenish-violet, kaleidoscopic and breathtakingly gorgeous.
Ripples of light glinted across this gem-like sea as a cultivator in platinum Daoist robes traversed the Great Void and revealed his form.
Gauging that he had arrived at the Peacock Sea, Li Ximing stepped forward across the sea surface, unable to suppress a sigh of emotion in his heart:
*The Cape really is far enough away...*
Li Ximing had traversed the Great Void to get here. Initially, he had intended to ride the wind all the way across the mortal realm and gather some spiritual materials along the journey. Who could have foreseen that even with the speed of a Violet Palace cultivator, after flying for several days, he had not even escaped the Cape? Once past the waters surrounding Qingxu Temple, all that lay before him was a boundless mortal sea utterly severed from spiritual qi.
Such regions did not connect to the Great Void; within the Void, they were mere points so minuscule as to practically not exist, vanishing in the blink of an eye as one passed. For an ordinary cultivator, flying across would take who knew how many months or years. No wonder no one was willing to venture toward the Cape.
He had simply found a spot with the barest trace of spiritual qi to cross into the Great Void, which brought him swiftly to the Peacock Sea. Looking back at the boundless sea behind him, he could not help but marvel:
"Truly a destitute place. If a cultivator ever manages to fight their way out from there one day, that would truly be an astonishingly gifted figure."
After flying along the Peacock Sea for a while, the spiritual qi finally thickened. Several desolate islands possessed spiritual qi on par with Qingxu Temple. Gliding along and stopping occasionally, he indeed spotted several peacocks with massive wings and multicolored feathers soaring through the air, dragging a rolling gust of hot wind in their wake.
The larger peacocks were the size of courtyards, their backs capable of carrying multi-story pavilions; even the smaller ones bore majestic statures larger than wooden beds. Their plumage was a riot of colors—violet, red, green, and auburn—surging with billows of flame, looking thoroughly imposing.
Li Ximing glanced over and noticed what looked like human silhouettes on the peacocks' backs. Putting aside any thought of striking immediately, he traversed the Great Void and soon manifested above a colossal island. Commotion bustled beneath his feet, remarkably lively.
This place was no longer comparable to the Cape, so concealing his whereabouts was necessary. Li Ximing casually changed his face, tucked away the heavenly radiance on his robes, and erased every trace of his Mingyang divine abilities.
With a grasp of his hand, the jade-bead-like Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger materialized. Holding it in his palm, he drew upon the spiritual artifact's grade to transform his aura into that of the Gen Earth path, suppressing his cultivation to late Foundation Establishment.
Taking a step forward, he transformed into a middle-aged cultivator in brown robes.
Li Ximing was virtually clueless regarding the art of transformation. Let alone deceiving a Violet Palace, this series of changes would not fool even a Foundation Establishment adept at the art. Fortunately, the island was populated entirely by Embryonic Breathing and Qi Refinement cultivators, all of whom fell to their knees in worship upon seeing him.
Leading them was the lord of the island. He was just as penniless as the rest, but at least better off than Qingxu Temple; he at least carried a Dharma sword at the Qi Refinement level. He kowtowed and said:
"May I ask where Daoist travels from? Our humble domain is crude and impoverished; we fear soiling your noble feet..."
Though the ancient customs here were not as pronounced as at the Cape, they still preserved the title of "Daoist." Li Ximing asked:
"What place is this, and who rules these waters?"
The island lord bowed:
"Reporting to Daoist, this place is Gaoxuan Island. The Peacock Sea lies within the domain of the Grand Dao of Taitao Jiuxiu. Over two thousand li to the east of here is Jiuxiu Immortal Mountain, where the Daoists reside."
Inquiring about matters was indeed most convenient once one reached the Peacock Sea; this single sentence was far more useful than Xia Shouyu's vague snippets of information. Li Ximing asked in a low voice:
"I have heard a master of divine ability resides on the Peacock Sea. Which Real Person cultivates here?"
The man hurriedly prostrated himself:
"Reporting to Daoist, Jiuxiu Immortal Mountain is home to Real Person Yuandao, a master of great divine abilities. The Peacock Sea makes offerings to him alone. He is benevolent and charitable; not only do people constantly come to study from several nearby and distant sea domains, but even from the unimaginably distant Jiangnan, Real Persons have come to visit him..."
*Real Person Yuandao...*
Li Ximing had never heard this name. Frowning, he could only ask:
"Do you know what lineage the Grand Dao of Taitao Jiuxiu belongs to... and what surname the direct line bears?"
Being a mere Qi Refinement cultivator, how could this man understand anything about lineages? Terrified of displeasing him, he broke into a cold sweat and racked his brains:
"This humble one's land is remote. I know nothing of lineages... nor of any direct line... I have never had the standing to ask..."
Drenched in sweat, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he replied:
"However... when this humble one was young, I once accompanied my father to the Peacock Sea market. The master running that market had descended from the mountain, and all the cultivators addressed him as... Master Dantai..."
*Dantai?!*
Li Ximing was struck by sudden realization, musing:
*A member of the Dantai family! Dantai Jin of Qingchi Sect hails from the Dantai clan... This Real Person Yuandao must be Si Boxiu's friend!*
*Good grief, to think the Dantai family holds such renown here in the Peacock Sea! Yuanxiu truly found a splendid backer for his juniors...*
Having grasped the situation, he felt pleasantly surprised. Raising his brows, he said:
"I see... Are all the peacocks in this sea affiliated with Jiuxiu Immortal Mountain? Under whose jurisdiction do monsters usually fall?"
The man had no idea why he had suddenly shifted the topic to monsters, but he answered:
"Master may not be aware, but Jiuxiu Immortal Mountain is situated in the southwestern region of the Peacock Sea, where the vast islands and landmasses also lie. The peacock masters are all toward the northeast... Stretching further north, there is Daci Tongcai Temple, where the peacock masters cultivate. They all chant scriptures and strike wooden fishes. Inside their bellies are blessed lands that sustain many people."
Hearing this, Li Ximing was instantly intrigued and asked:
"The Peacock Sea once had a great monster, and now its descendants actually study the Dharma. For Jiuxiu Immortal Mountain to tolerate them, they must have someone backing them."
Naturally ignorant of the finer details, the man could only reply:
"They are indeed descendants of that venerable one. I have heard these masters radiate multicolored light and maintain ties with many lineages in the interior, often sharing life and death with those masters..."
From this, Li Ximing gathered that Lianmin from the interior often came here in search of mounts. He thought to himself:
*If one were to capture monsters, capturing these scripture-chanting peacocks would certainly be the most satisfying. Unfortunately, I am not in peak condition, nor do I know the background behind them, making it ill-advised to act. But I can make note of their location...*
*In the future, if there are sacrificial offerings or pills to be concocted, I can come reap some spoils from this flock of peacocks. After all, monsters without backers are hard to find, but the peacocks in the temple are both fat and plentiful.*
He then asked:
"Where are things more chaotic, with monsters running rampant?"
The man replied:
"Further south lies the Dong'a King Sea. The dragon clan has pulled out and no longer governs those waters, so chaos reigns... Everyone is planning to go there and make a windfall."
Li Ximing nodded, casually tossed him two pills, and vanished into the void. Being near the Cape, traversing the Great Void was exceptionally efficient. He swiftly arrived at the Dong'a King Sea. Peering out through the Great Void for a moment, he tore through space based on fluctuations in spiritual qi, only to find chaotic melee everywhere, a state of utter turmoil.
Not far off, a massive black-feathered bird was flying. Its eyes glowed crimson, wrapped in raging flames, while two groups of cultivators scattered in flight around it. This fire-spewing great bird blotted out the sky, its flames burning so hot the surroundings bleached white. Stretching out its neck, it devoured them one by one, casually trailing behind the fleeing cultivators.
"Well now! Coming early... is never as good as coming at the right time."
Just as the beast was flexing its dreadful might, a cultivator in platinum robes manifested out of thin air beside it. Reaching out, he seized the imposing monster barehanded by the neck and hoisted it up. In an instant, every trace of flame vanished completely. Knocked back to its true form by the divine ability, the bird shrank to the size of a common wild goose. Its two legs stretched straight out, unable to budge in the slightest.
Dead silence fell over the sea surface, broken only by the grief-stricken, shrieking cries of the little monsters below:
"The Yuanli Pagoda Heaven-Burning Great Monster King has been captured!"
Hearing this, Li Ximing frowned, suspicion welling within him. Holding the ferocious beast like a dead fowl, he grabbed it by the tail, swung it upside down, and slapped its beak to force the dead bird's mouth wide. With a couple of casual shakes, he emptied out everything in its belly.
He glanced over the heap and found nothing worthy of praise. Realizing the creature was utterly negligible, he frowned:
"From what remote backwater did such an ignorant monster crawl out? With such shallow cultivation, claiming such a grandiose title—anyone who didn't know better would think a Monster Monarch stood here..."
Unfastening his sash, he tied a knot around the bird's neck and hitched it to his robes, looking for all the world like a Daoist descending a mountain after buying a chicken from a farmer, before turning to leave.
He left behind a crowd of cultivators and lesser monsters standing frozen in place, staring at one another in dazed disbelief. Amidst faint, distant cries proclaiming "The Yuanli Pagoda Heaven-Burning Great Monster King has fallen!", one cultivator raised his brow, his face overflowing with lingering shock and the relief of having survived a catastrophe. He murmured softly:
"A master of great divine abilities... none could surpass this!"
Beside him, a cultivator in similar attire exhaled heavily and replied:
"Let's go... Brother Li. It is not safe here. Elder Shihai is already hurrying over; we must rendezvous with him at once."
……
Lake Wangyue.
The season of abundant rainfall had passed. Free from the disturbance of rain, the stone steps of Mount Qingdu appeared all the more pristine. Year after year, moonlight swept across the courtyard, unchanging and indistinguishable.
Inside the small courtyard, deep quiet reigned. The old man paced with hands clasped behind his back, while Li Shuya, dressed in brown robes, stood waiting to the side holding a jade tray. As the midnight bell chimed, Li Shuya stepped forward and said softly:
"Old Master... it is midnight."
In the jade cup upon the tray, crystal-clear tea had already been poured. Brewed from the precious herb Clear Cloud Floating Leaf, it had been personally prescribed years ago by Li Ximing to nourish Li Xuanxuan's body, taken together with medicinal pills.
Understanding that this was Li Shuya's duty, Li Xuanxuan did not make things difficult for him. He drank it down in a hurry, finally unable to hold back his question:
"Xixuan was confined to the ancestral shrine. How is he... doing now?"
Ever since Li Xixuan's argument with Li Xuanxuan last time, he had been confined on Qingdu and had not stepped out since. Li Shuya, however, misunderstood the old man's intent and respectfully said:
"Both the islet and the shore have taken it as a warning, and progress on the west bank has been very rapid..."
Li Xuanxuan fell silent for a moment before asking:
"Minggong is in secluded cultivation... and Xixuan has been locked up in the courtyard by me. The Yuanwan branch must be thoroughly shaken. Has anyone come to plead for mercy recently, or made any other moves?"
Li Shuya shook his head and hesitated:
"This junior does not know... The Yuanwan branch has never divided into separate households; only the lineages of a few who possessed spirit apertures branched out. Later, it was only when Lady Minggong manifested a spirit aperture that Master Xixuan's side split into its own branch. Right now, the five or six courtyards are all very anxious. Some have approached this humble one, hoping I might persuade Old Master to quell your anger..."
Li Xuanxuan asked again:
"What are they saying on the islet about this matter?"
Li Shuya hesitated for an instant and said haltingly:
"The clansmen are all quite emotional about it..."
"Emotional?"
How could Li Xuanxuan not know what the people below were feeling? He let out a sigh and said in an aged voice:
"They're all wringing their hands in lamentation, aren't they? Thinking Xixuan championed righteous duty, defying me without hesitation just to secure protection for them... How could I, their grandfather, fail to see through what those youngsters are thinking? Keep him confined for now; let us see how many jump out from the woodwork."
Pacing around the courtyard once more, he raised his brows and said:
"The hour is late. Go rest. I am going to see the Patriarch."
Li Shuya was, after all, a mortal. Worrying day and night alongside Li Xuanxuan during this period had taken a severe toll on him. The old man dismissed him to rest, then rode the wind aloft alone, soon landing upon the islet.
There, brilliant lights blazed, and music and song echoed from every corner. Several bright red pleasure boats, aglow with lamps and candles, drifted leisurely across the lake surface. Waves of fragrant breezes accompanied the singing that wafted up from the pleasure barges, drifting over the waters.
These were naturally not cargo or transport vessels, but newly popularized pleasure crafts for singing and dancing. Originally an indulgence from Lijing Prefecture that plied only the rivers, they spread as the Li clan's cultivators grew more numerous and restrictions on luxury and leisure loosened. Once they took to the lake, the scene grew even livelier.
Aboard the pleasure boats were prominent figures and nobles. The direct lineage of the Li clan naturally seldom patronized them; they served mostly as entertainment quarters for collateral branches and external surnames. Therefore, Li Xuanxuan did not find it unacceptably decadent; instead, watching it gave him a sense of relaxing prosperity.
*For one, it diverts these cultivators' idle minds; for another, it keeps the lake from appearing lifeless and grim... Having more singing and dancing out in the open leaves less room for debauchery in the dark...*
After Li Ximing attained the Violet Palace, interactions between the islet and the shore grew even tighter. While many developments seemed to have sprouted organically within the rules, they were actually permitted successively by Li Zhouwei and Li Jiangqian. Looking back and forth, the old man shook his head and mused:
*It is indeed prosperous... no wonder those on the islet envy it.*
Yet just as the old man shifted his gaze back to the islet, he spotted a young man in red robes sneaking down to land, seemingly having just returned from beyond the islet. Clearing his throat, he rode the wind after him and called out:
"Li Zhouming!"
Li Zhouming shuddered in fright. The moment he caught sight of him, his first reaction was to flee. But having taken just one step back, he realized it was already too late to run, and offered a fawning smile:
"Oh, it's Old Master... I haven't had the chance to visit you these past few days..."
Li Xuanxuan sized up the boy and asked:
"Where have you been?"
Li Zhouming gave an awkward laugh and answered:
"I met a nice girl on the shore, only at the second layer of Embryonic Breathing. Seeing that her family was hard-pressed and couldn't afford any magical implements, I forged a hairpin... here... and just delivered it tonight."
Although Li Zhouming was a playboy, fortunately, he never lied when facing Li Xuanxuan; otherwise, the old man would not have known every detail of his debauchery from head to toe. Li Xuanxuan merely frowned:
"Which family's girl is it this time? You fall in love every three days and switch every six months. Mind you don't do anything shameful!"
Li Zhouming cupped his hands and chuckled:
"Old Ancestor... this junior merely admires their beauty; I haven't resorted to any underhanded tricks... After all, the family discipline is so strict. If I so much as make a move, she'd certainly be stuffed into my quarters as a concubine, and then there'd be no beauties left for me to admire out there..."
Li Xuanxuan was often helpless when dealing with him. Shaking his head, he sighed:
"Carrying on like this... will give people a bad reputation... You had best avoid getting entangled with them..."
Li Zhouming hurriedly said:
"Rest assured, Old Master. I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve when dealing with Qingdu... It definitely won't come to that; otherwise, how could I have made it this far? This junior has only this single hobby. If you cut off this path for me, you might as well take my life..."
"Get out of here, go, go!"
Li Xuanxuan could only let him go and strode quickly toward the palace hall. Once the old man had walked away, Li Zhouming straightened up. His attendants on either side looked at him, watching the playboy grumble:
"Those households weep all day long as if someone had died, acting like being grounded is a death sentence! One claims he's going to farm the fields, another threatens to go punt boats—I heard all about it from younger sister Xinghan long ago! Who knows how much wealth they've squeezed out of Aunt Minggong in private... If you ask me, they just have too much gold weighing down their pockets with no way to spend it!
"Aunt is softhearted. Fearing they'd get punished, she kept quiet and covered for them, but now they've even brought Old Master down from the mountain! Come on, let's go, let's go..."
The two could not help but look up and ask:
"Your Highness..."
Li Zhouming straightened his face, flicked his sleeves, and snapped his fan open with a swish. He replied:
"In the past, didn't those households watch me like hawks every single day to report me to Qingdu? Damn them! They can't even figure out how to sneak around and enjoy themselves properly, yet all they do is envy me! Today we're going straight to their courtyards. I'll pick out a few choice insults—call them lazy bums wailing at funerals, foul birds shrieking in a nest, wanton dogs whining for thrills—and give them a piece of my mind before leaving!
"At least I'll vent some anger and make them swallow some grief, and see just how heartfelt their crying can stay!"
High in spirits, he strode off. His two attendants suffered for it, drenched in sweat and terrified out of their wits as they scrambled after him. Unable to dissuade him, they could only wail:
"Young Master! You really can't go cursing them like this... Everyone on the islet is watching... Ai-yo..."
Chapter 792