Li Xiangping was immediately taken aback. Seeing the broad smile on Wan Yuankai's face, his thoughts turned, and he thought to himself:
"This Wan clan is far too enthusiastic. I must be on my guard."
The smile still on his face, he cupped his hands to Wan Yuankai and shook his head repeatedly:
"Your father's courtesy is too great! I could not possibly accept this!"
Wan Yuankai shook his head, took a small pinewood box from his sleeve, and slid its polished lid open. Inside, cushioned on a piece of silk, lay a greenish-white fruit.
The surface of the fruit was covered with a layer of cuticle as smooth as a serpent's scales, gleaming green and white. It caught the daylight and shimmered faintly. It looked quite fine indeed.
But Wan Yuankai's face carried a trace of embarrassment as he said softly:
"The Wan clan is beset on all sides and never makes ends meet. This Pine-Yue Fruit has some benefit for shaping the Chengming Wheel. It is only a small trifle — please accept it, Brother Li, so that I may return and report to my father."
Seeing Li Xiangping examine the fruit, Wan Yuankai seemed to realize something, and quickly explained:
"Use a small knife to cut open the skin, then drink the juice."
Li Xiangping looked at the fruit, his mind weighing up pros and cons. He thought:
"The Wan clan is beset on all sides — why tell me so? Would that not simply invite covetous eyes?"
"Enough! Whatever trick he is playing, let me see how the situation unfolds."
"Then I shall accept, much obliged!"
Li Xiangping laughed aloud. When he saw Li Yesheng step forward to take the box and carefully carry it off, he shifted the subject, his expression serious:
"There is one thing I would trouble you with, Brother Wan."
"Just call me Yuankai — please, speak!"
Wan Yuankai waved his hands hurriedly.
"My Li family has only just arrived here, and we know nothing of the surrounding clans. Would Brother Wan oblige me with a few answers?"
"Of course."
Wan Yuankai nodded. When he saw Li Yesheng fetch paper and a brush, he rolled up his sleeves, drew a thin line on the paper, and explained:
"This is the Ancient Li Road."
He then drew a circle at the middle of the Ancient Li Road, and wrote the character Li inside. Li Xiangping nodded, took up a brush in turn, dipped it in ink, and above and below the Li character drew two more circles, labeling them Moonview Lake and Greater Li Mountain.
"Our Li family has Greater Li Mountain at its back, faces Moonview Lake ahead, and the Ancient Li Road cuts across."
Wan Yuankai nodded. To the right of the Li clan, he drew a small circle and explained:
"To the east is the Wan clan."
He then lifted the brush and drew a great circle above the Wan clan's, and said with gravity:
"This is the Ji clan of the Tang Gold Gate."
"The Ji clan of the Tang Gold Gate?"
A cold shiver ran through Li Xiangping's heart. He asked back.
"Exactly! The Tang Gold Gate is an immortal sect in the northern State of Xu, its strength equal to that of the Azure Pool Sect. Moonview Lake is vast. Cross to the heart of the lake and go north — there you will find Tang Gold Gate's mountain gate, Tang Saber Mountain. The Ji family is one of the powers under the Tang Gold Gate's administration."
Li Xiangping nodded to Wan Yuankai, gesturing for him to continue, and thought bitterly:
"Truly, what you fear is what comes."
"For more than a decade, the Tang Gold Gate and the Azure Pool Sect have been at constant friction. Although the two sects have not yet gone to war, more than a dozen clans along the border have already been destroyed, tens of thousands of mortals displaced. Both sides are merely probing one another."
Wan Yuankai's expression was uneasy, as though he had at last spoken the worry that had long troubled his heart.
"The Ji clan has struck again and again, trespassing on my Wan clan's territory. The suffering is unbearable. The Ji clan patriarch, Ji Dengqi, reached the Qi Refining stage some years ago. My father has only just reached the Jade Capital stage. We are no match for him."
"Every year, when our spirit rice ripens, the Ji clan men veil their faces, pretend to be loose cultivators, and raid our village. For years, we have had no choice but to cower up on the mountain, while the Ji clan plunders the spirit rice."
By this point, Wan Yuankai's eyes were red. His fists were clenched tight.
Li Xiangping had already guessed what Wan Yuankai had come for. His expression was somewhat ugly as he said:
"My Li family is weak and thinly resourced. I fear we are in no position to help."
Seeing the grief and anger on Wan Yuankai's face, Li Xiangping hurriedly asked:
"How many cultivators does the Wan clan have in total?"
Wan Yuankai was suddenly taken aback. He hesitated, looked at Li Xiangping, then gritted his teeth and said:
"My father is at the peak of the Jade Capital Wheel. I have just formed the Azure Origin Wheel. There are two juniors in the family who have just formed the Profound Vision Wheel. As for the Ji clan, besides that old thief who has reached Qi Refining, they have two at the Orbital Wheel, one at the Chengming Wheel, and several at the Profound Vision Wheel, though they never come to raid in person."
Li Xiangping was puzzled and asked:
"I once heard a fellow in the sect say that if you are attacked, you can use a jade seal to call the sect for aid, and the sect will send a Foundation Establishment cultivator to relieve you at once."
"How could we possibly call on a Foundation Establishment cultivator!"
Wan Yuankai burst out, his teeth clenched, fists tight, the look of one crushed by bitter enmity.
"Even if we activated the jade seal, it would take at least two shichen for the Qi Refining cultivator in the city to arrive. By then, everything is already over — the spirit rice gone, and calling for help again and again only earns us the enmity of the cultivator sent to our aid, for no good reason!"
He had barely finished when he saw Li Xiangping about to speak, and hurriedly added:
"My father has sent me to call on you all in the hope that our two families may form an alliance and borrow the strength of your noble clan…"
Li Xiangping sighed inwardly. Since Wan Yuankai had already broached the subject, he gave up the idea of extracting more intelligence. He said with a bitter smile:
"It is not that we are unwilling, but that we cannot! Our Li family is thin in numbers. We only stepped into the path of immortal cultivation at the beginning of the year. My father has four sons. The eldest passed away long ago. Although my youngest brother is highly cultivated, he has already gone off to an immortal sect. My elder brother and I are both shallow in cultivation — not even equal to you. What could we possibly use to stand against the Ji clan?"
"But you still have your father!"
Wan Yuankai's face was full of hope as he looked at Li Xiangping, speaking with eager expectation.
"The truth is, my father is nothing more than a mortal…"
"Impossible! A mortal father producing three children with spiritual apertures? My father, a Jade Capital Wheel cultivator, fathered seventeen children and obtained only me!"
Wan Yuankai was suddenly full of doubt. Li Xiangping was greatly alarmed, his thoughts racing. Without a moment's hesitation, he went along with the man's words and said with a bitter smile:
"My father was attacked in his early years, and his cultivation was crippled…"
Wan Yuankai's face changed at once. He answered with some shame:
"That was my clumsiness! Your father must have already reached the foundation of the Great Dao. I, Yuankai, was presumptuous."
With that, he sat dumbly back in his seat, his eyes full of worry.
For his part, Li Xiangping's heart was pounding. Wan Yuankai's outburst a moment ago had truly sent a chill of cold sweat running down his spine. He had nearly lost his composure.
"So the higher a cultivator's cultivation, the greater the chance his children will be born with spiritual apertures. I nearly gave myself away over such a small matter!"
Seeing Wan Yuankai's face fallen, Li Xiangping steadied his heart and said:
"Then at the end of the Ancient Li Road, to the west of our Li family — do you know what the situation is, Brother Wan?"
"The western end of the Ancient Li Road…"
Wan Yuankai was momentarily stunned. He looked at the map, lost in thought, and after a long pause said in concentrated tones:
"Greater Li Mountain slopes westward. The Ancient Li Road, going west, gradually enters the mountains. There has never been any word of people living in that stretch. However, I have heard…"
"Heard what?"
Li Xiangping hurriedly asked.
"My father said that our ancestors explored westward in the past. Beyond the Li Road, there are Mountain Yue appearing."
"Mountain Yue?"