Li Tongya looked upon Wan Tiancang and found himself not a little embarrassed. Had the house truly possessed some talisman of Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment, he might in earnest have considered bringing it forth in exchange for the heritage of formations; but that flash of white light which had saved Wan Xiaohua was no talisman at all — it was the attack loosed by the magic mirror when it met an enemy. And of that, Li Tongya could not open his mouth to speak.
"Brother Wan, it is not that Tongya is loath to trade — it is that I truly cannot..."
Li Tongya parted his lips and drew out a sentence he himself did not believe, then sighed within himself.
Wan Tiancang would not be so easily gainsaid. Frowning, he reasoned at length, laying out the profit and the loss of the matter, all the while wondering privately:
"This is plainly a matter to gladden both our houses — why is Li Tongya so evasive, and why does he wear an air of so little interest?"
Perceiving Li Tongya's look of deep difficulty, Wan Tiancang had a sudden insight and declared with the most solemn assurance:
"Set your mind at ease, Brother Tongya! Of the heritage of formations, all but one shall be laid entire into your house's hands — only the Earth Lock Huagan Formation of our Huagan Mountain, which touches the very safety of our house's blood and must not be given out, is kept back. The ten Embryonic Breathing formations and three Qi-Refining formations go to you without one missing or one altered, in all their completeness!"
Li Tongya, seeing the man had spoken to this pass, found his own heart stirred besides, yet he had no choice but to fall back upon the art of delay and said, nodding:
"Tongya must yet take counsel with his father and his brother before I may give you an answer, Brother Tian Cang."
"Of course, of course!"
Wan Tiancang nodded at once, well satisfied that the matter was nine parts settled, and let out an easy breath, then added:
"Such a weighty affair must by rights have your father's consent. Then I shall await your good tidings, Brother Tongya!"
The two chatted a little longer, and Wan Tiancang took his leave.
At the summit of Lijing Mountain.
"This Wan Tiancang has a ready tongue, to be sure."
Lu Jiangxian's divine sense had marked the whole exchange clearly, and a hundred thoughts tumbled through his mind.
"That Lunar Yin Mystic Light carries the strength of all the gathered cultivation of a cultivator at the peak of the Jade Capital Wheel thrown into a single blow; one struck fair by it, it seems, would suffer sorely even were he but newly entered upon Qi Refining. Small wonder this Wan Tiancang comes begging for it."
Of the Li house Lu Jiangxian was well content indeed. Its whole line had stepped onto the path of immortality through his Profound Pearl Talisman Seeds, and every man's Seed had gathered within it the cultivation of his entire body, so that its rise or fall lay wholly within a single thought of Lu Jiangxian's — a thought that gave him no small measure of security.
Whenever a powerful aura flew past the Greater Li Mountain, Lu Jiangxian had made a practice of disguising himself as an ordinary mirror and hiding away deep among the forested wilds, unwilling to become a vessel in another's hands; who knew what arts those Purple Mansion and Golden Core cultivators commanded, or whether they might not find a way to deal with just such a mirror-spirit as himself?
Though he might, it was true, recover the faster in the grasp of some immortal cultivator, yet what could equal the ease of hiding and growing, day upon day, in these hills? Every Profound Pearl Talisman Seed he had cast abroad was as a feeler of Lu Jiangxian's own — bearing him tidings, searching out treasure, and each man's every breakthrough adding to his store of magic power and divine sense.
"Who when he may be master would play the dog!"
Lu Jiangxian murmured to himself, gazing with deep satisfaction upon the thriving aspect of the Li house sheltered beneath the Seeds he had nurtured.
But let him look at it from the other side: were he himself one of the Li, his whole cultivation in the keeping of a tool possessed of a mind of its own, Lu Jiangxian could never endure it — he would scheme by every means to win back control. And the Li, for all their wit and industry, were likewise a mistrustful and suspicious breed; and so Lu Jiangxian had never once shown any sign of intelligence, but kept up the plain semblance of a thing that acted by instinct alone.
As for the Wan house's heritage of formations, Lu Jiangxian's heart stirred at it too. What manner of array might he lay out, one wondered, using his own mirror-body as the medium?
"The only question is, how to bring that heritage into the hands of the Li..."
"A heritage of formations?"
Li Xiangping frowned, looked at Li Tongya, and shook his head:
"Our house has no talisman to give him."
"Yet that heritage of formations is a most tempting thing, and your elder brother's mouth waters at it."
Li Xiangping found himself stirred likewise, and slapped his thigh before springing to his feet and drawing Li Tongya toward the rear courtyard.
"Let us go ask Father."
Li Mutian was sweeping the little chamber at the rear of the house. The old man had no idle tastes — he neither smoked nor gambled. On days of nothing to do he would dandle his grandsons, trade talk with Tian Shoushui, and wander to and fro about the little room where the mirror rested, as though he feared lest, were he but a moment careless, the thing should fly up through its skylight and be gone.
Li Xuanxuan was at his cultivation in the side chamber. Drawing upon the moon-essence that pooled upon the mirror's face, the child had already gathered to himself seventy threads of lunar essence — a pace, at worst, behind where Li Chijing had stood at like age — and had thrown Lady Ren and the elders into no little wonderment.
When he had heard out Li Xiangping, Li Mutian set down his broom, looked at the mirror upon its stone dais, and said heavily:
"This business will not be easy handled."
Seeing the regret upon his two sons' faces, Li Mutian narrowed his eyes and went on:
"Some days ago that demon wolf was slain by the mirror's white light. What do you two make of it?"
Li Tongya and his brother stared in surprise, then fell to frowning thought.
"An instrument of spirit such as this is born with a destiny to slay the evil and root out the demonic," Li Tongya said at last, giving voice to what lay in his mind. "Perchance the demon pressed too close, and so was met and slain."
"That may pass."
Li Mutian nodded, then spoke low:
"If we mean to help this Wan Tiancang after all, we might tell him the talisman must be wielded by a hand of our house, and then, from far off, use the magic mirror to strike Ji Dengqi by stealth. But Ji Dengqi is neither demon nor monster — how are we to draw the mirror's attack upon him?"
Li Xiangping was silent for a long while; then he spoke of a sudden:
"The path of immortality begins with the Profound Vision Wheel. To refine pills and forge instruments, to draw talismans and array formations — ay, even the storage pouch — all must wait upon the birth of spiritual consciousness in the Jade Capital Wheel. Perhaps when we have achieved the Jade Capital Wheel we shall unlock somewhat of the mystery of this magic mirror, and borrow its strength to slay enemies."
"True."
Li Tongya nodded, counted the time upon his fingers, and said:
"The Wan house's spirit rice has but newly ripened; it will be two or three years before the next crop. That is when Ji Dengqi will come raiding across the border again — and we have room and time enough."
Li Mutian sat down upon the stone stool, lifted the teapot and filled the cups before him, and said with slow deliberation:
"Let us put him off for now. When our house has produced a Jade Capital Wheel, and our strength is grown near to a match for the Wan, then we shall settle these matters at our leisure. Until that day, let Ji Dengqi press upon the Wan for us."
"Yes."
Li Xiangping sipped lightly at his clear tea and turned to Li Tongya:
"How fares your progress, Second Brother?"
"I have already laid hold of the very edge of the Azure Origin Wheel," Li Tongya answered with a faint smile, gazing at the watery moonlight and the pale lunar essence flowing upon the mirror's face. "A few months more of breathing practice, and I shall seek out a day of auspicious omen, bright and clear, and attempt the breakthrough."
"The Azure Origin Wheel is far easier won than the Luminous Understanding Wheel," he explained.
Li Xiangping shook his head with a smile, then grew grave:
"A few months hence will bring the day when the Sect's envoy comes to collect the tribute; and we should also take the occasion to ask the Wan house of the many matters of its affairs."