"The Moon Lake Reflection Autumn Art was once a method handed down from the Celestial Manor. It is quite miraculous, but it requires two kinds of Heaven-and-Earth spiritual qi. The first is called the Yin lunar essence, and the second is called the lake-bounded golden autumn. Of the lake-bounded golden autumn the sect still has some store, but the Yin lunar essence has not been seen for several hundred years, ever since the Celestial Manor withdrew from the world."
"That peak master of three centuries ago chanced to receive a bestowal from the Celestial Manor and so cultivated this art to completion. Since his death, no one else has ever managed it."
Li Chijing had heard accounts of the Celestial Manor as well. It was said to be a colossus that spanned several states, yet it had not shown itself in the world for centuries. He sighed softly inside, nodded his head, and said in thanks:
"I see now. Many thanks to you, Senior Brother, for dispelling my doubts."
——
Lu Jiangxian extended his spiritual sense outward from within the mirror and watched the boy who was practising the Attraction Method.
A pale white light, faintly visible, rose above the boy's head. It was about seven inches long and glowed with a weak radiance.
"This child's compatibility with the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed is not bad, but I wonder what his aptitude for cultivation will be."
Lu Jiangxian withdrew his spiritual sense from Li Xuanxuan's body. He felt his mind tremble, a flash of light passed before his eyes, and he seemed to see a disk as pure white as jade appearing before him. At once he understood:
"That child Li Chijing has broken through to the Jade Capital Wheel!"
A mysterious and unfathomable force, following the link between the Profound Pearl Talisman Seeds, traversed ten thousand miles and gently merged into the grey-green mirror on the stone platform. Lu Jiangxian felt his spirit lighten, and a moon-white stream of light took shape before him.
When Li Tongya and Li Xiangping had each broken through before, they had fed back a small amount of power to Lu Jiangxian's mirror. Now, with Li Chijing's numerous breakthroughs, and bolstered by the feedback from his achievement of the Jade Capital Wheel, Lu Jiangxian had at last condensed the Lunar Profound Light.
"This light likely holds the force of a single strike gathering the full power of the Jade Capital Wheel. Its range of attack is extremely wide, even surpassing my current reach of spiritual sense."
Having formed this light, Lu Jiangxian's range of spiritual sense expanded to the full size of Lijing Village. He was thrilled; the mirror's body grew faintly warm, and a vague sense of attraction again surfaced in his mind.
"With the expanded range of spiritual sense, I can perceive things further away!"
Lu Jiangxian carefully felt the direction of this attraction and thought to himself:
"It seems to be still above Moonview Lake, only much farther than before. Should I hint to the Li family that they should go take a look?"
"No."
Lu Jiangxian's heart chilled and he said to himself:
"From the look of it, the place seems to be at the market center in the lake. I had best wait until the two Li brothers have completed the Jade Capital Wheel before I go and investigate."
The door creaked open, and Li Mutian entered the room with the two Li brothers. Li Xiangping patted Li Xuanxuan on the shoulder and said gravely:
"Are you ready?"
"I am ready."
Li Xuanxuan nodded firmly and returned the wooden slip to Li Xiangping's hands.
Only after Li Xiangping had stowed the wooden slip away did Li Mutian reverently place the mirror upon the altar and set out several sticks of incense.
"Li disciple Li Xuanxuan, I humbly invoke the Xuanming wondrous art, to command the spirits and settle the soul, to uphold the Dao and cultivate."
"When the time comes, let my merits be recorded and my faith not be found wanting; let me be burnt with the writ and return my body to the Yin."
No sooner had Li Xuanxuan spoken than Lu Jiangxian spurred the art into motion. The mirror's surface blazed with coloured light, pulsing and undulating as if breathing, and suddenly it spat forth a white pill.
Li Xuanxuan hurriedly sat cross-legged and guided the art to receive the talisman seed.
"Liu Rouxuan has already formed the Profound Vision Wheel. In another few months Xuanxuan too will achieve the same. Counting thus, our Li family will soon have six cultivators."
Li Tongya looked at Li Xuanxuan on the ground, then turned and tightened the door again, speaking softly.
"Two at the Orbital Wheel, three at the Profound Vision Wheel, and Jing has already attained the Jade Capital Wheel at the sect."
Li Xiangping looked at the grey-green mirror brilliant with coloured light on the altar, and continued:
"Our main family still lacks cultivators of higher cultivation. Leaving aside the Qi Refining practitioner Ji Dengqi, the Wan family next door alone has a cultivator at the peak of the Jade Capital Wheel."
"A cultivator of the Jade Capital Wheel gives birth to spiritual awareness, and only then can he refine elixirs, forge artifacts, lay formations, and use a storage pouch. He can also enter and leave the market towns in safety."
Lu Jiangxian was listening to the two men's conversation when his spiritual sense suddenly stirred. Faintly, he perceived a strange aura coming from the west, hovering restlessly not far away.
Lu Jiangxian's perception was divided into two layers. The first he called sight-awareness, whose range was vast—it could vaguely cover the whole sphere of the Li family's influence, from Lichuan Pass to the Lidao entrance. This was the equivalent of a mortal's "seeing;" it could only observe broad impressions, but its advantage was that such perception was generally not detectable. Even Si Yuanbai, back when he was at Foundation Establishment, had not noticed Lu Jiangxian watching.
The other layer was spiritual sense, which could cover roughly Lijing Village. It was the equivalent of a mortal's "touching." Within this range Lu Jiangxian could scan a person wholly, though depending on the other party's power, they would feel an obvious sensation of being watched. Within this range, too, he could use the Lunar Profound Light to strike at an enemy.
His sight-awareness now informed him that this aura was roughly at the level of the Jade Capital Wheel, and it was skulking about near Lichuan Pass. Uneasy, he thought to himself:
"Why would a cultivator of the Jade Capital Wheel be wandering here… I had best warn the Li family."
As this thought moved through his mind, silver-white lunar essence gushed out from the mirror's surface, gathering into streams of moon-white silk that wove together in the air.
This sudden change alarmed Li Tongya and the others greatly. Seeing the silver light coalescing in the air, they exchanged uneasy glances.
Li Mutian narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice:
"Don't panic. Let us see what it is first."
"It seems to be the map of our Li family's lands."
Li Tongya said, stroking his chin and speaking somewhat hesitantly.
The lunar essence gradually converged into a bright white map. Above it, Lichuan, Lidao, and Jingyang Village were all present, each rendered with considerable precision. Only at the Lichuan Pass did the map flash with a silver light, pulsing again and again.
"Lichuan Pass?"
Li Xiangping murmured to himself.
——
Chen Erniu had been in charge at Lichuan Pass for several years. He had grown a layer of fat around his middle, and a beard had begun to fill out on his chin. At last, he no longer looked like a farmer.
During the day he had balanced the accounts of the fields and settled a dispute between two brothers over land. With a contented sigh he lay down on his cot and began to think of the next day's plans.
"A few plots to the east of the village are still good. I will send a few men tomorrow to open them up and take a bit more land."
Lichuan Pass and Lidaokou were right next to each other, but administratively there was no such clear hierarchy as between the other pair of close neighbours, Lijing Village and Jingyang Village. Naturally, as the man in charge, he had to fight for every inch of ground.
Xu Wenshan had wanted to open a trade route, but the Wan family had nearly abandoned the Ancient Li Road to the Ji family. With no way east through the mountains, the man had been so irritable these past months that he quarrelled with Chen Erniu over everything.
"A real nuisance."
Just as he was thinking, Chen Erniu heard a commotion outside. His eldest son, panic-stricken, rushed into the room, shouting:
"Terrible news, terrible news, Father! Someone has died at the edge of the village!"
Chen Erniu jumped up from the bed and cried out:
"What?"