"This formation looks sturdy and unyielding — I fear it has already surpassed the Embryonic Breathing realm."
Li Xiangping loosed two more arrows, and when the formation remained utterly unmoved, he heaved a soft sigh.
"Young patriarch, our Li family possesses no lineage in formation arts. Breaking this formation will be no easy matter. Perhaps we might join forces with the Wan family —"
Li Qiuyang peered about for a time, pacing back and forth across the hillside, but could discern not the slightest flaw. He turned and asked the question directly.
"Absolutely not."
Li Xiangping shook his head and replied in a low voice:
"Second brother is on the verge of breaking through to Jade Capital. Things may yet turn in our favour. Why should we share the spoils with the Wan family? Whether the formation breaks or not, we would be obliged to hand them their share."
"If some precious spirit artefact were found within, the two families might well turn upon each other. There is no need to court that risk."
" The patriarch speaks truly!"
Li Qiuyang excused himself with a bow and withdrew with a composed expression.
"I summoned you here precisely because I have made several arrangements."
Li Xiangping waved his hand and spoke in a measured tone:
"Yesheng, you will go and muster the men of Jingyang Village. Discuss the details thoroughly with Uncle Ping'an. Over the next few years we shall begin building mountain paths and courtyards on this hill. You must mark out and secure these plots of land."
"I have surveyed the ley-lines of this region. The soil on these slopes is rich in spiritual energy — an excellent stretch of spirit-field. Planting two crops of spirit rice every five years should yield at least a hundred jin of spirit grain. From now on, this will be under your management, Qiuyang."
"Understood!"
Li Qiuyang answered softly, then descended the mountain together with Li Yesheng at Li Xiangping's gesture, going down to negotiate with Ren Ping'an below.
"With the three hundred jin our Li family already produces, we shall have two or three spirit stones to spare every five years. In a few more years our coffers will be rather more comfortable."
Watching the two men descend until they vanished from sight, Li Xiangping turned to look at the smiling Li Xuanxuan and asked:
"What is it?"
"Uncle places a great deal of trust in Brother Qiuyang."
Li Xuanxuan beamed up at him.
Li Xiangping laughed and lowered his voice:
"The Li Qiuyang family are discreet and sensible. His father Li Chengfu, in particular, knows when to advance and when to recede. We may safely put them to use. Our Li family has vast lands but few hands — there is no need to be miserly with power. Let them act freely."
"Li Qiuyang may reach Embryonic Breathing, but whether he can attain Qi Refining is another matter entirely. Even if he did, he might not father children with spiritual apertures. He is no match for our main line, and we need not fear him growing too powerful. As for the Liu family of Jingyang, they have become our kin through marriage, and their sole cultivator is now one of us. There is even less cause for concern."
Watching Li Xuanxuan's contemplative expression, Li Xiangping lowered his head and whispered into his ear with a grin:
"As if I truly trust him! His father and elder brother both remain at the foot of Lijing Mountain. Li Qiuyang is low in cultivation and young in years, and at Jingyang Village he is further constrained by Ren Ping'an and Li Yesheng. What sort of trouble could he possibly stir up?"
Li Xuanxuan's brow relaxed at once. He turned the words over several times in his mind and smiled:
"Your nephew is duly instructed!"
Only then did Li Xiangping raise his head, his brow furrowed, a trace of warmth entering his gaze. He spoke solemnly:
"Stay at my side and learn well. This Li family will sooner or later be placed in your hands. I entered the path of cultivation at sixteen or seventeen — I will not outpace you. What is more, life and death are uncertain. The demon beasts in these mountains grow more numerous with each passing day. None of us knows what may happen. Our Li family must seize every moment, and so must you, Li Xuanxuan."
"Life and death are uncertain."
Li Xuanxuan murmured the words softly. Unbidden, the image of a father he had never met surfaced in his mind, and a wave of bitterness washed through him.
---
"The essence of Embryonic Breathing lies in Jade Capital. The Jade Capital Wheel resides in the Ascendant Yang Palace — it is the fifth wheel of Embryonic Breathing. Once you further condense the sixth wheel, the Spirit-Initial Wheel, also within the Ascendant Yang Palace, you shall be able to draw in a breath of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy and advance to Qi Refining."
Li Tongya emerged slowly from meditation, his heart swelling with joy. He could feel the newly born spiritual sense roaming throughout his body. The world before his eyes had utterly transformed — he could perceive threads of spiritual energy drifting through the air around him.
When his spiritual sense swept across the formation flags before him, the Mist-Veil Labyrinth Formation upon Lijing Mountain shuddered. Li Tongya experienced a sensation of absolute command, as though the mountain above and below lay entirely within his grasp. The blood seals left by several cultivators of the family upon those flags could be wiped away at once.
"Now that I have condensed the Jade Capital Wheel, mortals can no longer harm me."
He carefully adjusted the layout of the Mist-Veil Labyrinth Formation, ensuring it covered all the new mountain paths that had appeared over the years. Then he picked up a small piece of bluestone from the ground and crushed it to powder with casual ease. Every detail within a zhang radius crystallised in his mind with perfect clarity.
He could evade swiftly loosed arrows with ease, and could catch a gleaming blade barehanded with his spiritual power. A cultivator at the Jade Capital Wheel could defeat several dozen mortals without effort, and through guerrilla tactics might even rout an army of hundreds or thousands.
Pushing open the rear courtyard gate, Li Tongya found Li Xiangping seated cross-legged in meditation in the yard. Under the gaze of his spiritual sense, the four spiritual wheels upon his body blazed like points of starlight.
"So this is how spiritual sense perceives one's cultivation. Four spiritual wheels — the Azure Origin Wheel of the fourth layer of Embryonic Breathing."
Watching Li Xiangping slowly open his eyes, Li Tongya smiled:
"Congratulations, third brother, on breaking through to Azure Origin."
Li Xiangping could only manage a rueful grin in return:
"So this is the spiritual sense of the Jade Capital Wheel. You saw through me at a single glance."
Li Tongya laughed heartily. The two brothers exchanged a glance, each reading the anticipation in the other's eyes.
They passed through the rear courtyard and entered the innermost small chamber. Li Mutian was already sitting within, watching as the two men strode in together.
"Father, I have given birth to spiritual sense. I may now examine this artefact."
Li Tongya cupped his hands in salute. Watching the old man nod slowly, he stepped forward carefully and extended his spiritual sense toward the mirror.
Lu Jiangxian had awakened the moment Li Tongya broke through to the Jade Capital Wheel. Sensing the power feedback from the Profound Pearl Talisman Seed, he quietly estimated the potency of his Profound Lunar Radiance.
"It should be equivalent to a full-force strike from a cultivator at the peak of Embryonic Breathing, condensed from the Spirit-Initial Wheel. Caught off guard, it should be able to kill an early-stage Qi Refining cultivator."
"My current spiritual power should sustain roughly three consecutive uses. After that, I would need to draw in moonlight or ambient spiritual energy for several days to recover."
Feeling Li Tongya's spiritual sense slowly sink into the mirror, Lu Jiangxian felt as though a small tendril had prodded him — reminiscent of that girl in his school days who used to poke him with her pen during class.
A momentary darkness passed through his heart. Lu Jiangxian gathered his thoughts once more upon the young man before him and cooperatively released a dazzling white radiance that rose slowly from the stone platform.
Pure white lunar essence surged forth in an unending stream, enveloping the mirror's body. Pale white moonlight drifted down from the stone platform like mist, flooding half the room and spilling through the windows and doorway before finally dissipating like smoke outside.
Li Xiangping and the others were struck mute by the spectacle — white light shimmering, lunar essence flowing. They felt the cool moonlight washing over their ankles and wrists, and their minds grew utterly clear. Eyes filled with anticipation, they gazed toward the stone platform.