"It was some months ago that I quietly tested your bone constitution," said Li Xiangping. He paused, then turned to look at Li Xuanxuan below, who brimmed with excitement and wore an expression of feverish anticipation, and spoke again:
"There is no spiritual aperture in your Qi Sea."
Li Xuanxuan felt as though a thunderbolt had rent the clear sky. His mind went blank, a wave of bitterness surged into his breast, his eyes flushed red, and he pressed his lips tightly together, unable to accept what he heard.
He had little understanding of how rare spiritual apertures truly were. It seemed to him that even if every cultivator in the village could be counted on fewer than the fingers of one hand, still both of his household's elders were cultivators, and even a collateral branch had produced a Li Qiuyang. However poor a talent he had, he ought still to possess an aperture.
Now that he had heard he had no aperture at all, and would be a mere mortal all his life, his heart darkened instantly, and warmth crept into his eyes.
"This mirror is a treasure I picked up in the river while catching fish in my boyhood."
Li Xiangping pointed to the grey-green mirror on the stone platform. Seeing Li Xuanxuan's pitiable state, he gently stroked the boy's head and laughed softly.
"Can you guess its wondrous use?"
Li Xuanxuan held back his tears and answered seriously:
"I do not know, Third Uncle."
"Its wondrous use is this—it allows even one without a spiritual aperture to cultivate."
At these words Li Xuanxuan faltered. He stared blankly at Li Xiangping's face, and a hope like the sun rose in his breast. Unable to check himself, tears turned to laughter, and he sobbed:
"Third Uncle teases me on purpose."
Having said this, and seeing Li Xiangping's half-smiling face, Li Xuanxuan thought a little and suddenly felt a chill pass over him. He could not help blurting out:
"Don't tell me…"
"Exactly so."
Li Xiangping nodded, and said gravely:
"Your father had no spiritual aperture, your Second Uncle and I have none, and even your Fourth Uncle Li Chijing, who cultivates at the immortal sect, has no aperture either."
"The whole rise of our Li family rests on this mirror. Were it not for it, you and I would be nothing more than common folk tilling the fields!"
Li Xuanxuan was struck dumb by this tidings and could not speak. He felt the world spin around him and said hoarsely:
"You merely picked up a mirror in the river, and it enabled our family to cast off the mortal and ascend to immortality?"
"Precisely! This mirror can refine the lunar essence and bestow the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed upon men. It is far too miraculous. Should the secret ever leak out, our Li family would surely be reduced to ashes!"
After this warning, Li Xiangping looked at Li Xuanxuan's stunned appearance and hesitated.
Li Xuanxuan, meanwhile, answered in a rush and with sudden understanding:
"I see it now! I see it now! No wonder, when I asked all day about Grandfather's Foundation Establishment, he kept silent. Our family's three apertures in one household are not because Grandfather once established his foundation, but because of this treasure!"
"A moment ago, when Third Uncle would not let Li Qiuyang touch me, it was to conceal the secret of my lack of an aperture. And that Liu clansman who came secretly up the mountain was slain on the spot—not because Third Uncle is fierce, but because Third Uncle was afraid…"
The more Li Xuanxuan reasoned, the colder his spine grew. He cupped his hands toward Li Xiangping and said:
"Men take Third Uncle for fierce and full of suspicion, yet this does him wrong! Our Li family keeps such a treasure; how could it not put a man on his guard?"
Li Xiangping was taken aback. He stared dully at the boy before him, finding this child unlike the one he remembered, and eyed him again. He asked softly:
"Then why did I tell that Li Qiuyang that you were about to form the Profound Vision Wheel?"
Li Xuanxuan stroked his chin and, after a few moments' thought, replied:
"It must be that the mirror works to double the effort in forming the Profound Vision. Third Uncle feared Li Qiuyang might grow suspicious, and so claimed that I had already begun cultivating several months ago."
"Well done!"
Li Xiangping nodded with satisfaction and clapped him on the shoulder.
"A child of the Li family, indeed! To have followed at your grandfather's heels, you have learned a thing or two!"
With these words he bent down and knocked lightly at the base of the stone platform, drew out a wooden slip from its side, and pressed it into Li Xuanxuan's hands. Watching the boy receive it reverently, he explained in a low voice:
"This secret method is called the Attraction Method. It is the wondrous art of drawing in the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed. This month you shall read it carefully here in the courtyard; on the winter solstice you shall receive the seed. In the meantime you will sleep in the side chamber, and I shall have food sent to you."
"Yes."
Li Xuanxuan nodded heavily. Watching Li Xiangping close the door behind him and his footsteps fade into the distance, he bent his head and read on carefully.
——
"...Your father is in good health, and your Second Brother has already cultivated the Orbital Wheel. With this letter I send three Snake-Yuan Pills; I hope that Jing, you will cultivate diligently and soon attain Qi Refining. All is well at home; give it no worry!"
Li Chijing stored the letter away carefully and wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. He set the three bottles of Snake-Yuan Pills neatly upon the shelf, then turned and thanked Xiao Yuansi:
"Many thanks to you, Senior Brother! My family owes a great debt to your kindness, and Jing is deeply grateful."
"Say no more of it."
Xiao Yuansi shook his head and said:
"Fellow disciples are as close as brothers under one roof; there is no need for such ceremony."
Li Chijing nodded gently and said quietly:
"With these Snake-Yuan Pills, along with the Spirit-Clarifying Powder our master bestowed, I now have nine chances in ten of condensing the Jade Capital Wheel."
After a few moments' thought, Li Chijing asked in a soft voice:
"The master once said that to pass from Embryonic Breathing into Qi Refining, one must first swallow a breath of Heaven-and-Earth's spiritual qi. I wonder what the secret to this might be?"
Xiao Yuansi raised his teacup, drank a mouthful, and moistened his throat before explaining:
"This Qi Refining requires that one first take in a breath of Heaven-and-Earth spiritual qi. That qi is either the lesser clear spirit qi refined from the spiritual aura of the mountains, or the baleful earth-vein qi refined from terrestrial veins, or the dawn-rosy colored qi caught from the morning mist…"
"In short, this breath is best when it accords with one's art, for then it can be pure, generous, and firm, and lay the foundation of one's dharma power. Nine-tenths and more of the rogue cultivators beyond the mountains use the lesser clear spirit qi refined from the mountains' aura, for it fits all manner of arts, neither strong nor weak."
"Oh?"
Li Chijing was instantly curious, and asked at once:
"Of such arts as our family practices, which Qi Refining art would be best to turn to? And what manner of spiritual qi must we use?"
"Though I do not know the workings of your family's art, I observe that your dharma power is limpid and clear. The sect also holds a number of Qi Refining arts suited to your change of practice."
Xiao Yuansi smiled, set his teacup down, and continued:
"One is called the Primal Clarity Rain-Commanding Art—the most famed profound art of our Qingchi Sect. It uses the rain-and-mist qi refined from the mist of a sacred mountain, excels at riding the clouds and mist, commanding the clouds and the rain, and moves softly against an opponent."
"The second is the Mountain-Shade Forest-Mist Art. This art uses the yin qi of the mountainside, and few within the sect have ever cultivated it."
"The third is an art of considerable difficulty, called the Moon Lake Reflection Autumn Art. Since the third peak master of Moon Lake Peak cultivated this art to completion, no one has been able to do so again. Perhaps it holds some secret, but that man has been dead for over three hundred years, and there is none left to ask…"
Li Chijing knew well that all his dharma power was bound up with the lunar essence, and at the mention of this name joy rose in his heart. Yet when he heard Xiao Yuansi say that none could master it, he faltered at once and asked eagerly:
"And why is that?"