When the Snake-Dragon Fruit had fully melted open in the furnace, turning into a cinnabar-red medicinal liquor that floated above the elixir fire within, Xiao Yuansi took out several seasoning herbs and cast them into the furnace one by one.
Finally, he refined it ceaselessly with the elixir fire. An hour or so passed, by which time the thin mist among the hills had scattered and the dew had all evaporated, before eight pale-red spirit pills were disgorged from the furnace mouth.
Xiao Yuansi pinched a hand seal, and the eight pills instantly rose and fell into his hand, which gleamed with white light. He took out eight small white jade bottles, filled them one by one, kept two for himself, and handed the rest to Li Xiangping and the others, explaining:
"This Snake-Yuan Pill likewise must be kept in a jade bottle and stored with care. Only open the wooden stopper when you take it. If it is not sealed tightly, the medicinal power will gradually dissipate, and a whole pill will be wasted."
"Stored well and sealed, this pill can be kept for twenty years or so, so there is no need to worry."
Li Xiangping and the others naturally agreed and received the pills with care. Only then did Li Tongya exchange a glance with Li Xiangping, take out three bottles of Snake-Yuan Pills, and say:
"If you please, Immortal Master, take these three bottles of pills to my little brother, so that he may cultivate well."
"Indeed. Your Li family is full of sentiment. Yuansi will certainly deliver them."
Xiao Yuansi nodded in approval, received the three jade bottles, cupped his hands, and said with some feeling:
"It has been only a few years since the Li family stepped onto the path of immortality, and your foundation is still somewhat shallow. The arts of alchemy, formations, and artifacts must still be passed down through the clan, and you should bring more of those gifted with spiritual apertures into the family, lest your line fades within a few generations… Neither the Lixia Dao nor the Ancient Li Road holds any powerful immortal clan, so the Li family must seize this chance well."
"Over the centuries, Lixia Prefecture has seen families rise abruptly, only to vanish within a few generations. My Xiao family, as a clan of the prefecture, has watched countless towers be built and toppled. The Li family must spur itself onward all the more…"
This speech of Xiao Yuansi's came from the heart, and moved Li Tongya deeply. He let out a long sigh:
"What the Immortal Master says is right. We two brothers built our fortune from nothing. Now the Li sons number scarce twenty or thirty, and even the collateral Ye branch numbers barely two to three hundred. Chijing practices alone at the sect, and we cannot even supply him with any cultivation resources."
Seeing Li Tongya sighing endlessly, Xiao Yuansi frowned and said in a low voice:
"My own alchemy path was handed down from within the sect, and I have sworn the Profound View Spirit Oath, so the recipe of the Snake-Yuan Pill must not go abroad. You might search the market towns instead; perhaps you will find some gain there."
Hearing this, Li Xiangping, who had been waiting on the side, hurriedly asked:
"Might I ask the Immortal Master, this Profound View Spirit Oath…"
Xiao Yuansi was startled for a moment, then explained:
"In clans and sects alike, the Profound View Spirit Oath is used to secretly transmit techniques. The one who binds himself swears over his Profound View Wheel; the oath springs from the heart. Should he break it, his Profound View shatters, and a lifetime of cultivation pours out of him like water, reducing him to a mortal within a moment or two, his vital energy failing and his spirit exhausted, and he dies in fulfilment of the oath."
"This Profound View Spirit Oath is of great use for passing down knowledge. Might I ask what it would cost…"
Li Tongya hurriedly cut in, but Xiao Yuansi waved a hand to interrupt him:
"It is merely a cheap little trick," he said. "Everyone knows it. I shall write it down for you."
So he took up the paper and brush, dashed the brush across the page, and finished in the time it takes a cup of tea. Then he warned in a low voice:
"But there is one point you must mind. This spirit oath is not the open Way of Heaven, seeing through all things. It serves well enough to keep a technique or secret concealed, but if you wish to prevent the other party from harbouring ill intent, it is of no great use."
"Thank you for the counsel, Immortal Master! The Li family will remember this favour!"
The two hurried to express their thanks, and the great stone of wariness that Li Xiangping had long carried in his heart finally settled. His spirits eased considerably, and he mused to himself:
"With this Profound View Spirit Oath, the final link is filled. Once those two children cultivate the Profound View Wheel and swear the oath, we can put them to use with an easy mind."
Xiao Yuansi received the reply letter Li Xiangping handed up, stored away the furnace, summoned his flying shuttle, and said with a light laugh:
"That junior brother of mine has a fine aptitude for cultivation, though his bone constitution is only middling. But he is extraordinarily gifted in the way of the sword. You need not worry over him."
"Everyone, may we meet again when fate allows!"
With that, he mounted his shuttle and, amid the two's words of thanks, soared into the sky.
Once Xiao Yuansi had gone far, Li Xiangping carefully tucked the remaining three bottles of pills into his bosom and said to Li Tongya with a smile:
"Chijing truly has a fine senior brother."
Li Tongya nodded. Reading over the Profound View Spirit Oath as he was, he passed the jade slip to Li Xiangping, gesturing for him to take a look.
Li Xiangping hurriedly received the jade slip and unfolded it gently. Looking at the dense, fly-headed script upon it, he was instantly struck still. Barely managing to read several dozen words, he stared wide-eyed and murmured in a low voice:
"You call this not difficult?"
---
Li Xuanxuan was absent-minded in class, staring blankly at Han Wenxu, who was lecturing animatedly from the podium.
Han Wenxu was nearly fifty, and wisps of white hair had gradually crept across his temples. In his twenties he had been an apprentice at a medicine shop in the prefecture when, in a fit of rage, he killed a man, and so had to flee and hide in Greater Li Mountain. For more than twenty years now he had treated the villagers' ailments and taught the children their lessons, and he found the life quite satisfying.
Looking at the children reading diligently below, a measure of a smile came to Han Wenxu's face. He had gone his whole life without children of his own, but he had raised the children of the Li family, and these children, who had grown up in his school, were no different from his own nephews and nieces by now.
"Mm? Mist is rising?"
Han Wenxu looked at the thin layer of fog gathering at his feet, and thought uneasily:
"Why would a mist rise at a time like this…"
Below the podium, the drowsy Li Xuanxuan had sharp eyes though. He jolted awake at once, tugged at the sleeve of his equally drowsy companion Li Xiewen and whispered:
"Little brother Wen! Look out the window."
Li Xiewen looked at once, and saw layer upon layer of grey mist swelling beyond the window. Growing uneasy, he answered in a low voice:
"Brother, what is going on?"
"This fog is far too strange. Our elders are on the mountain top. Let the two of us tell the master, and go up the mountain together to inform them."
Li Xuanxuan was not yet six, yet he already spoke with the poise of a child of eight or nine. His small brows knitted, and he said gravely.
Even as Li Xuanxuan spoke, he saw his grand-uncle Liu Linfeng step into the school, and whisper something to Han Wenxu. Han Wenxu nodded hastily and announced:
"Children, pack up your clothes and bedding. From today, you have three days off."
The two exchanged a glance, and amid the children's cheers, hurried off to pack their belongings.
Having informed Han Wenxu, Liu Linfeng sat on the steps before the house to wait for the children. In a moment, his mouth itched, and he reached into his bosom for his pipe.
The moment he looked up, he vaguely made out a furtive figure crouching in the mist, peeking about in the woods.
Liu Linfeng was so startled that he leapt up from the ground, and his precious pipe snapped its mouthpiece on the ground. He had no time to grieve over it, but trembled as he barked:
"Who goes there!"