"Fine marksmanship!"
Stepping atop the massive corpse of the brown-bristled boar demon, Li Xuanxuan clicked his tongue in admiration as he looked at the bowl-sized bloody puncture. Beside him, Li Xuanfeng stowed his longbow, grinning with unhidden pride.
"Well? My arrow was no ordinary shot, was it?"
"It was good, certainly," Li Xuanxuan said with a nod, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "It's just a pity about such a fine pelt."
Li Xuanfeng paused, letting out a sheepish chuckle. He was just about to reply when a clan soldier came barging in from the side. After stumbling forward only a few paces, he was halted by armored guards. Blood soaked his armor, and he dropped straight to his knees, weeping in despair.
"Young Clan Head! The Shanyue have taken Lijing Town and are storming Mount Lijing!"
Li Xuanfeng looked down in disbelief. Seizing the clan soldier by the collar with one hand, he barked, "Do you know what you are saying?!"
"Feng'er!"
A cold sweat broke out across Li Xuanxuan as well, terror shaking him from head to foot. He rushed to pull the man free from Li Xuanfeng's grip, heedless of the blood drenching him. Supporting him up, he fired off question after question: "How could the Shanyue be in Lijing Town?! Where are the clan soldiers the Clan Head took with him?! And what about Lichuankou?!"
The clan soldier knew how dire the situation was and rushed to answer, "The Clan Head and that thousand-strong army have vanished without a trace! We went to Lichuankou to seek reinforcements, only to be showered with arrows—Lichuankou has fallen under Shanyue control as well!"
A chill ran down Li Xuanxuan's spine, making his hair stand on end. He stepped back slowly, countless dreadful visions flashing through his mind. Slowly sliding his blade back into its scabbard, he fell completely silent.
"Scout Lijing Town and Lichuankou once more," Li Xuanxuan breathed, his voice sinking low and heavy. "And send men into the reed marshes to find Second Uncle."
"No need."
Li Tongya stepped down through the empty air and landed beside Li Xuanxuan, his expression grave. "I have already been to Lichuankou. Three thousand troops are stationed there, overseen by a Qi Refinement cultivator. As for Lijing Town, there are over three thousand Shanyue and at least three at Qi Refinement."
Li Tongya had originally been gathering river clear qi along the riverbanks, following the water until he neared the shores of Lichuankou. There, he saw the village ablaze with torches and bustling with silhouettes. Filled with doubt, he had flown closer above the village, only to see the area teeming with disheveled, tattooed Shanyue. His heart dropped.
The moment he approached the village, a Shanyue cultivator at Qi Refinement took to the air, conjuring a thick black fog as he surged toward Li Tongya.
Li Tongya clashed with him several times. Employing the Mystic Water Sword Art in tandem with his River true essence, he battered the wild, unorthodox Shanyue cultivator into steady retreat. Yet fearing the enemy might have reinforcements nearby, Li Tongya had no choice but to pull back in frustration.
"The Clan Head..." Li Xuanxuan began anxiously.
Li Tongya furrowed his brow and shook his head. "I was halted as soon as I reached Lichuankou. There was no army formation on the riverbank, but neither were there any signs of a battle. Xiangping must have withdrawn early, or moved off in another direction."
Only then did Li Xuanxuan let out a long breath, and the tension on Li Xuanfeng's face eased as well. Patting his brocade pouch, Li Tongya produced a jade seal—the very token of authority under Qingchi's jurisdiction. A few small characters were glowing across its surface:
*For now, endure and yield.*
With a darkened expression, Li Tongya put the jade seal away. He had sent an urgent plea for aid through the seal earlier, but not only was there complete silence for half an hour, in the end, all he received were these five words.
"We cannot count on the Qingchi Sect. Now everything depends on what Jianixi intends to do..."
***
Li Xuanling and Li Jingtian had rested only a short while when the front door was kicked open with a thunderous crash. Over a dozen Shanyue filed inside, followed by a man who looked to be a low-ranking chieftain, broad blade in hand. The moment his gaze fell upon Li Jingtian, his eyes lit up, and he chuckled.
"What a pretty lass."
The two stiffened at once. Li Jingtian was utterly baffled as to how Jianixi had tracked them here, and seeing only a handful of mortals dispatched before them made suspicion bloom further. Something felt terribly wrong.
Li Xuanling clenched his fists, weighing his choices in silence.
*Striking down these few wouldn't be difficult, but I risk drawing the Shanyue in the streets. If a cultivator among them is alerted, getting away will be near impossible.*
The Shanyue chieftain swept his gaze over them, waved his hand, and barked, "Take them away!"
Two men immediately stepped forward with ropes to bind Li Xuanling and Li Jingtian. Li Xuanling glanced up at Li Jingtian, and seeing her give a slight shake of her head, he relented and allowed them to tie him up.
Li Xuanling gave his arms a subtle twist. The ropes bound around him felt insubstantial; with a burst of strength, he could easily rip them apart. Evidently, these men saw no reason to take precautions against a ten-year-old child, never imagining that he was already at the second layer of Embryonic Breathing.
The two were led out of the courtyard, only to see vast crowds of children and youths being herded like cattle and sheep toward the mountain forest. High above them drifted a figure treading upon the air, covered in intricate tattoos and sporting a head of long braids.
"Qi Refinement..."
Li Xuanling pressed the words through his teeth in a whisper. Hauled forward along with Li Jingtian, he was led slowly into the forest. He deliberately stumbled, falling awkwardly to the ground so that thick mud splashed across his head and face.
*I've spent the past few years down here; everyone knows my face. If some fool calls out my name, it's over. I must stay disguised.*
Tilting his head, he wiped his cheek against his lapel and kept his chin down to blend in, striving to appear as unremarkable as possible. Looking ahead at Li Jingtian, he felt a silent surge of relief, thinking to himself:
*Fortunately, Eldest Sister has lived in seclusion and never came down the mountain these past few years. Otherwise, with her striking presence, there's no way she could have hidden it.*
Soon, they arrived at Dayu Brook; beyond it lay the territory of the Shanyue. Refusing to resign himself to fate, Li Xuanling discreetly touched the mirror, but soon let go with a wry, bitter smile.
Three Qi Refinement cultivators were treading through the sky above the convoy, while Shanyue soldiers closely patrolled the front and rear, maintaining an airtight guard. Fortunately, the range of a Qi Refinement cultivator's spiritual sense was limited, and flying so high, they could not discern Li Xuanling among the crowd below. The two had no choice but to brace themselves and trudge forward. After an entire day and night on the march, a crude stockade finally came into view.
Inside the stockade, many lowlanders could already be seen, their legs shackled as they struggled to haul various implements or provisions. At a casual glance, security appeared quite loose.
*It would be difficult for a mortal to break out of this stockade, but for a cultivator, it's an entirely different story. Once night falls, I can kick off these irons and slip away with Eldest Sister.*
Li Xuanling's chest tightened a little less. Then he saw a crowd gathered ahead, where captives were forced to kneel in turn in their shackles, waiting for several Shanyue shamans to paint horizontal stripes across their necks—the mark of a slave.
Nearby, men were already untying their ropes, separating the young girls and maidens to lead them to another side. As Li Jingtian was pulled from the crowd, a collective murmur of awe rose from the Shanyue and slaves alike.
"Who... whose daughter is that? What exceptional beauty."
"What a gorgeous lass."
Li Jingtian had quietly smeared mud across her face, yet the high, straight bridge of her nose and the graceful lines of her profile could not be hidden. Inherited from Li Xiangping, her grayish-black eyes were clear and untouched by the Shanyue bloodline, holding an arresting, striking beauty.
Before Li Xuanling had time to think further, he was yanked into the stockade, where a Shanyue warrior fitted him with a wooden pillory. The Shanyue were unskilled at metallurgy, and what little bronze and iron they managed to forge was reserved entirely for weapons. Naturally, there were no iron pillories to spare; they relied instead on sturdy timber.
Enduring the Shanyue shaman's strokes as horizontal stripes were painted across his neck, Li Xuanling kept his peripheral vision fixed on Li Jingtian. To his dread, he saw the long-braided Shanyue who had been floating high above slowly descending from the sky, coming to a halt before the crowd to scrutinize her.
Chapter 91